New President, New World
President Obama's speech was sombre but inspiring, pragmatic but uplifting, and I hope upon hope that he can serve out his term safely, bend his talent and dedication to leading the United States through difficult times.
We've set our expectations very high. During his campaign and following his election, an astonishing amount of hope has been invested in this man and what he can do for the country. People may feel powerless and wish for someone to fix the problems.
But from what I heard of Pres. Obama's speech, what I have taken from his rhetoric, is that he places just as much hope and faith in his fellow citizens, and that he intends for us to lift ourselves up as a nation, to reach out to one another as neighbors, to lend a helping hand.
The President has so much on his plate in these years that it is nearly inevitable that some things will be left at the wayside. It may be that the overwhelming majority of his first term is taken up in trying to impove the economy, to un-do many of the things done in the last eight years. I hope that he stays true to his rhetoric of inclusion, compassion, hope, and equality in action as he has been in speech.
I may not end up in a doctoral program. I might spend a couple years teaching in an inner-city school, or representing a new generation of Americans abroad in the Peace Corps or the like. I've got big heaping piles of privilege because of my ethnicity, my orientation, my sex, my family, and my education. And for me, privilege is something that comes with repsonsibility. I believe I would be happiest carrying out those responsibilities by teaching, sharing knowledge and provoking critical thinking, but I may fulfill those responsibilities in ways I had not intended or preferred. And so it may be for many of us, those whose job prospects are uncertain, academics facing un-filled university chairs, students or recent graduates who realize that their Alphabet Soup is not the ticket to prosperity that it had been reputed to be, or those who did not finish their degrees for one way or another.
But what history has taught me is that community endures, and that we are one another's best chance for stability, fulfillment, and happiness. That is the message that our president has given, it is one that I echo, and I hope that we can all live up to the challenges ahead of us and emerge together as part of a more compassionate, understanding, peaceful, sustainable world.
Let's make it happen.
We've set our expectations very high. During his campaign and following his election, an astonishing amount of hope has been invested in this man and what he can do for the country. People may feel powerless and wish for someone to fix the problems.
But from what I heard of Pres. Obama's speech, what I have taken from his rhetoric, is that he places just as much hope and faith in his fellow citizens, and that he intends for us to lift ourselves up as a nation, to reach out to one another as neighbors, to lend a helping hand.
The President has so much on his plate in these years that it is nearly inevitable that some things will be left at the wayside. It may be that the overwhelming majority of his first term is taken up in trying to impove the economy, to un-do many of the things done in the last eight years. I hope that he stays true to his rhetoric of inclusion, compassion, hope, and equality in action as he has been in speech.
I may not end up in a doctoral program. I might spend a couple years teaching in an inner-city school, or representing a new generation of Americans abroad in the Peace Corps or the like. I've got big heaping piles of privilege because of my ethnicity, my orientation, my sex, my family, and my education. And for me, privilege is something that comes with repsonsibility. I believe I would be happiest carrying out those responsibilities by teaching, sharing knowledge and provoking critical thinking, but I may fulfill those responsibilities in ways I had not intended or preferred. And so it may be for many of us, those whose job prospects are uncertain, academics facing un-filled university chairs, students or recent graduates who realize that their Alphabet Soup is not the ticket to prosperity that it had been reputed to be, or those who did not finish their degrees for one way or another.
But what history has taught me is that community endures, and that we are one another's best chance for stability, fulfillment, and happiness. That is the message that our president has given, it is one that I echo, and I hope that we can all live up to the challenges ahead of us and emerge together as part of a more compassionate, understanding, peaceful, sustainable world.
Let's make it happen.