A Change is Gonna Come

Nothing would give me greater joy right now in this world, then to see Barack Obama elected President come November. Watching the Democratic National Convention all week long, on television when I could, on the internet when I missed it, makes me feel like there is a light at the end of an 8 year long tunnel of lies and deception and ignorance and arrogance. George W. Bush and every one around him have not only tarnished this country’s image, economy, values and overall state, they have robbed me and the millions of other young people of 8 years. Eight years of our youth spent listening to the likes of Bush.

I don’t know how any of that happened. It’s like a big blur. A big blur that I don’t want to remember, but can’t forget.

Watching Obama and John Kerry and Al Gore and Hillary Clinton, as well as Michelle Obama speak has not only filled me with hope, it has renewed my faith in people - people that want change, that want to fight to make the lives of others better, who want to give every single person in this country a life worth living

It is that American spirit, that American promise, that pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain; that binds us together in spite of our differences; that makes us fix our eye not on what is seen, but what is unseen, that better place around the bend.

That promise is our greatest inheritance. It’s a promise I make to my daughters when I tuck them in at night and a promise that you make to yours, a promise that has led immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel west, a promise that led workers to picket lines and women to reach for the ballot.

And it is that promise that, 45 years ago today, brought Americans from every corner of this land to stand together on a Mall in Washington, before Lincoln’s Memorial, and hear a young preacher from Georgia speak of his dream.

The men and women who gathered there could’ve heard many things. They could’ve heard words of anger and discord. They could’ve been told to succumb to the fear and frustrations of so many dreams deferred.

But what the people heard instead — people of every creed and color, from every walk of life — is that, in America, our destiny is inextricably linked, that together our dreams can be one.

“We cannot walk alone,” the preacher cried. “And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.”

America, we cannot turn back..

… not with so much work to be done; not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for; not with an economy to fix, and cities to rebuild, and farms to save; not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend.

America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone.

At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise, that American promise, and in the words of scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess. - Barack Obama

I’m crossing my fingers that the people in this country who are on the fence, the people who aren’t sure, even the people who support the opposition, finally come to their senses and understand that change is imminent. Change is necessary, now more than ever. And just like John Kerry said in his amazing speech, which still gives me goosebumps even though I’m just reading a transcription of it, “Years ago when we protested a war, people would weigh in against us saying, ‘My country right or wrong.’ Our answer? Absolutely, my country right or wrong. When right, keep it right. When wrong, make it right. Sometimes loving your country demands you must tell the truth to power.”

Amen.