Psychoblues
10-26-2008, 09:32 PM
A friend of mine wrote this piece and has given permission to me to post it in it's entirety wherever I felt it appropriate. I believe this is such a place that needs to read it and I hope you appreciate and enjoy it. I found it inspiring, moving and even though above the heads of many down to earth and human in the very best sense.
by NanceGreggs
Well, Barack, It's Kinda Like This ...
After the past eight years – and I know I don’t have to go into details, because you know, and I know, and we ALL know what it’s been like – I was really hoping for a Democratic candidate who was smart and savvy, a for-the-People kind of guy who understood what life was like for the vast majority of us; someone who could speak intelligently but still be down-to-earth; someone who could talk TO me and FOR me, without being condescending or over-my-head.
I’d hoped for a guy – you know, just a regular guy – who had something of value to say, and could say it well. A guy who made people actually want to listen; someone who made sense on the most basic level – and if he could convey a bit of vision, be a bit of an unashamed, unabashed dreamer, that would be icing on the cake.
What I got was you – and I don’t know what I ever did to deserve you, but it must have been something spectacular.
I wanted a man who would say that things could and would be better. What I got was a man who reminded me that the best of what we could be as a nation was just around the corner, there for the taking if only we are willing to work together to achieve it.
I wanted a man who would speak wisely. What I got was a man who speaks not only with wisdom, but vision; a man who dares not only to dream, but dares to encourage the dreamer in me, and my fellow citizens.
I wanted a man who was willing to take on the responsibilities of true leadership. What I got was a man who leads not by words, but by example; a man who is humble enough to admit that he is human, but strong enough to demonstrate that it is our humanity that makes us unique, makes us worthwhile, makes us capable of accomplishing more than at times seems possible.
I wanted a man who had that all-elusive common touch. What I got was a man of uncommon ability to raise the bar, to encourage us to set our sights higher, to say without hesitation that WE can do whatever needs to be done to make things right, to reach whatever goals we set no matter how lofty, to BE what we were at our very best moment in history – and surpass it with ease by virtue of our determination to do so.
I wanted a man who couldn’t ignore what we’ve done wrong; who didn’t pretend that a flag-pin in a lapel and a politically-correct bumper-sticker was sufficient cover for deeply flawed policies that have cost us precious lives and the respect of the world. What I got was a man who understands the tragedy not of numbers in the thousands, but of each individual loss; a man who realizes that the shame of wrongdoing can only be erased by having the courage to do what is right.
I wanted a man who wasn’t afraid to speak the truth, and wasn’t cowed by the task of facing that truth head-on – even when it was ugly and almost impossibly hard to look at. What I got was a man who inspires the courage in me – in all of us – to seek out the truth within ourselves and each other; who gives us all hope in a time that seems too overwhelmingly hopeless, who says “you can DO this” when we have been, for far too long, rendered too paralyzed by fear to attempt to do anything worthwhile.
As I have said before, you are not the BEST of us – you are the best OF us. It would be the easy way out to look to you to miraculously and single-handedly change the course of our history, to undo the incredible damage that’s been done, to right every wrong.
But the fact is that you can’t do that alone. You can only do that by reminding ME – reminding ALL OF US – that together, we can do whatever needs doing, and then some.
I wanted a man who could do good things. What I got was a man who invites me, along with my fellow citizens, to do GREAT things.
I wanted a man who wouldn’t let me down. What I got was a man who I don’t want to let down. And I hope I never do – because there’s so much of ME in you, and so much of YOU in me. And that, more than anything, says something important about both of us – about ALL of us, about who we are as a nation, as a people, as a family of world citizens who are about to change the world – together.
I just wanted to thank you for being who you are – the guy who reminds all of us who we will be, if we just allow ourselves to be who we can be. Because who we can be is something incredible.
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I hope you all will read it, understand it and appreciate it as much as I do.
by NanceGreggs
Well, Barack, It's Kinda Like This ...
After the past eight years – and I know I don’t have to go into details, because you know, and I know, and we ALL know what it’s been like – I was really hoping for a Democratic candidate who was smart and savvy, a for-the-People kind of guy who understood what life was like for the vast majority of us; someone who could speak intelligently but still be down-to-earth; someone who could talk TO me and FOR me, without being condescending or over-my-head.
I’d hoped for a guy – you know, just a regular guy – who had something of value to say, and could say it well. A guy who made people actually want to listen; someone who made sense on the most basic level – and if he could convey a bit of vision, be a bit of an unashamed, unabashed dreamer, that would be icing on the cake.
What I got was you – and I don’t know what I ever did to deserve you, but it must have been something spectacular.
I wanted a man who would say that things could and would be better. What I got was a man who reminded me that the best of what we could be as a nation was just around the corner, there for the taking if only we are willing to work together to achieve it.
I wanted a man who would speak wisely. What I got was a man who speaks not only with wisdom, but vision; a man who dares not only to dream, but dares to encourage the dreamer in me, and my fellow citizens.
I wanted a man who was willing to take on the responsibilities of true leadership. What I got was a man who leads not by words, but by example; a man who is humble enough to admit that he is human, but strong enough to demonstrate that it is our humanity that makes us unique, makes us worthwhile, makes us capable of accomplishing more than at times seems possible.
I wanted a man who had that all-elusive common touch. What I got was a man of uncommon ability to raise the bar, to encourage us to set our sights higher, to say without hesitation that WE can do whatever needs to be done to make things right, to reach whatever goals we set no matter how lofty, to BE what we were at our very best moment in history – and surpass it with ease by virtue of our determination to do so.
I wanted a man who couldn’t ignore what we’ve done wrong; who didn’t pretend that a flag-pin in a lapel and a politically-correct bumper-sticker was sufficient cover for deeply flawed policies that have cost us precious lives and the respect of the world. What I got was a man who understands the tragedy not of numbers in the thousands, but of each individual loss; a man who realizes that the shame of wrongdoing can only be erased by having the courage to do what is right.
I wanted a man who wasn’t afraid to speak the truth, and wasn’t cowed by the task of facing that truth head-on – even when it was ugly and almost impossibly hard to look at. What I got was a man who inspires the courage in me – in all of us – to seek out the truth within ourselves and each other; who gives us all hope in a time that seems too overwhelmingly hopeless, who says “you can DO this” when we have been, for far too long, rendered too paralyzed by fear to attempt to do anything worthwhile.
As I have said before, you are not the BEST of us – you are the best OF us. It would be the easy way out to look to you to miraculously and single-handedly change the course of our history, to undo the incredible damage that’s been done, to right every wrong.
But the fact is that you can’t do that alone. You can only do that by reminding ME – reminding ALL OF US – that together, we can do whatever needs doing, and then some.
I wanted a man who could do good things. What I got was a man who invites me, along with my fellow citizens, to do GREAT things.
I wanted a man who wouldn’t let me down. What I got was a man who I don’t want to let down. And I hope I never do – because there’s so much of ME in you, and so much of YOU in me. And that, more than anything, says something important about both of us – about ALL of us, about who we are as a nation, as a people, as a family of world citizens who are about to change the world – together.
I just wanted to thank you for being who you are – the guy who reminds all of us who we will be, if we just allow ourselves to be who we can be. Because who we can be is something incredible.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope you all will read it, understand it and appreciate it as much as I do.