Barack Obama's Inauguration speech really affected me on a personal level yesterday. I listened alone in a Boardroom, in the gathering dark above Hanover Square as he spoke of the duty of individuals to contribute to a globally networked community. He said "our patchwork heritage is a strength" and "let's not compromise our ideals in our need for safety".
It felt like he was speaking to me personally. I'm always most deeply affected by the idea that individual efforts can combine to affect the world and the community at large. I was reminded of Nelson Mandela's Inauguration day, and how much has passed since then. I realise that I've never seen myself as a citizen of any one nation, but rather a citizen of the world first, and then as a child of Africa, and now as a part of a European community.
It felt like he was speaking to me personally. I'm always most deeply affected by the idea that individual efforts can combine to affect the world and the community at large. I was reminded of Nelson Mandela's Inauguration day, and how much has passed since then. I realise that I've never seen myself as a citizen of any one nation, but rather a citizen of the world first, and then as a child of Africa, and now as a part of a European community.
"This too shall pass"*, and even this -
- that my parents are suffering so much and no matter what I do, I have no power to help them,
- that my relationship with my partner is a difficult one, and I don't know how and when and if we will survive as a couple,
- that my university studies have become more of a chore than a challenge, as I'm forced to study history from a post-imperialist apologist perspective that I despise,
- that the way I speak to people continues to excoriate and come back to haunt me,
- that I've only been given two days to reconnect with my sister and her sons; not enough, never enough, and I just have to accept it.
But then sometimes at my lowest ebb, I can laugh - at myself, as I weaved my way home last night, tipsy after 3 glasses of wine and a merry old time with Rosemarie, calling Gerald to have a good old sob on the phone - and thank heavens for my friends. My friends who are, after all, the family of my choice. I may not be there for them all, all of the time, but they're with me always and that's the one good thing that I needed to remember.
Good luck, President Barack Hossain Obama; hang on to your friends because I think you're going to need them! :)
* Abraham Lincoln, from a old Hebrew saying
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