there is a lot of change going on in my life at the moment. some of this change is being enforced by me and some of it is happily and unhappily going on around me.
one happy event was the inauguration of president barack obama. i am certainly not alone in thinking this is one of the most exciting things to have ever having witnessed, most of the world, everyone is raptuous at the moment but i couldn't let it pass by without saying a few words.
a couple of days before i was reading a summation of black history in one of the newspapers and had to stop because i was in public and about to have a little cry. i studied american politics at university and the project i did on the presidential race was the most facinating to me. what factors make the millions of people vote for one man (and it is one man, not one party, like in britain) to govern their country and be an influential power in the world? what does this man represent? does it even have to be a man, why not a woman? all kinds of questions have been raised during this campaign and it has brought the most delightful and intruiging outcome: the election of a barack obama. someone of mixed race, considers himself black and who would most certainly have not been laughed out of the room 50 years ago.
i turned on the tv at 4pm for the inaugural ceremony and saw aretha sing. her voice just cut through with such beauty. aretha is one of the people who changed my life. when i was 11 or 12 i found one of her albums in my mum's record collection. from that moment i stubbornly refused to listen to the radio and tut tutted at top of the pops and listened only to aretha for about 2 months. i would turn out all the lights and stand at my window and look out at the garden and her voice would transport me somewhere else. because of that album i listened to everything else my mum had (a lot of blues, prog and folk) and went around charity shops looking for more. my tastes changed and i've never been the same since. i expected more.
i sat through the religious addresses, tidying up and playing with the cat in the process and then came the newly pronounced president obama's address. it was everything i'd wanted to hear. i was amazed. i poured over presidential speeches, learnt the words of many of them to quote in exam essays and never have i heard such a clear, provocative, serious, liberal statement. phrases such as "collective responsibility" and "the energy we use is strengthening our enemies and threatening our planet". politicians just don't use that sort of language. politicians use language that is fuzzy, deliberately vague so they never have to make good on it. i found myself exhilarated and clapping with genuine delight.
i am afraid of getting my hopes up. i was always quite a politically aware child and remember that feeling in 1997 when i was 18, had voted in the government and truly believed that the world would change and that things would only get better. i don't want to get into bitter rants all the disillusionment i felt a few years after that but it did cast a dim palour on the day, a sort of crouching cobold in the white house doorway. but then day after day announcements come through about guantanamo being closed, abortion education refunded, emmissions reduction legislation... its all very exciting and points the way to a more enlightened future.
obama's speech is already having its effect on the way i live my life. i had an important meeting and i'd been depressed about it for about a week previous, i thought i had nothing left to fight with on an issue that could signify a change in the wrong direction for a beloved institution. in the meeting i kept the idea in my head that i DID have the power to change things, that as long as i kept my cool and did my best to speak eloquently and clearly then all was not lost. it worked. it was a good result, i pulled some sort of hope out of the hat and won the battle, for the moment. i thank obama for that, for giving me courage and strength back.
i am really proud of americans for having the strength and courage to vote him in, let us all just hope he doesn't screw it up.
a couple of days before i was reading a summation of black history in one of the newspapers and had to stop because i was in public and about to have a little cry. i studied american politics at university and the project i did on the presidential race was the most facinating to me. what factors make the millions of people vote for one man (and it is one man, not one party, like in britain) to govern their country and be an influential power in the world? what does this man represent? does it even have to be a man, why not a woman? all kinds of questions have been raised during this campaign and it has brought the most delightful and intruiging outcome: the election of a barack obama. someone of mixed race, considers himself black and who would most certainly have not been laughed out of the room 50 years ago.
i turned on the tv at 4pm for the inaugural ceremony and saw aretha sing. her voice just cut through with such beauty. aretha is one of the people who changed my life. when i was 11 or 12 i found one of her albums in my mum's record collection. from that moment i stubbornly refused to listen to the radio and tut tutted at top of the pops and listened only to aretha for about 2 months. i would turn out all the lights and stand at my window and look out at the garden and her voice would transport me somewhere else. because of that album i listened to everything else my mum had (a lot of blues, prog and folk) and went around charity shops looking for more. my tastes changed and i've never been the same since. i expected more.
i sat through the religious addresses, tidying up and playing with the cat in the process and then came the newly pronounced president obama's address. it was everything i'd wanted to hear. i was amazed. i poured over presidential speeches, learnt the words of many of them to quote in exam essays and never have i heard such a clear, provocative, serious, liberal statement. phrases such as "collective responsibility" and "the energy we use is strengthening our enemies and threatening our planet". politicians just don't use that sort of language. politicians use language that is fuzzy, deliberately vague so they never have to make good on it. i found myself exhilarated and clapping with genuine delight.
i am afraid of getting my hopes up. i was always quite a politically aware child and remember that feeling in 1997 when i was 18, had voted in the government and truly believed that the world would change and that things would only get better. i don't want to get into bitter rants all the disillusionment i felt a few years after that but it did cast a dim palour on the day, a sort of crouching cobold in the white house doorway. but then day after day announcements come through about guantanamo being closed, abortion education refunded, emmissions reduction legislation... its all very exciting and points the way to a more enlightened future.
obama's speech is already having its effect on the way i live my life. i had an important meeting and i'd been depressed about it for about a week previous, i thought i had nothing left to fight with on an issue that could signify a change in the wrong direction for a beloved institution. in the meeting i kept the idea in my head that i DID have the power to change things, that as long as i kept my cool and did my best to speak eloquently and clearly then all was not lost. it worked. it was a good result, i pulled some sort of hope out of the hat and won the battle, for the moment. i thank obama for that, for giving me courage and strength back.
i am really proud of americans for having the strength and courage to vote him in, let us all just hope he doesn't screw it up.
No comments:
Post a Comment