Ready or not, change is here!
We have a new president. Whether you voted for President Obama or not, the day is here, and I hope we'll all join together in showing respect and support for the democratic process and the man we have elected to lead our country in a strange and often terrifying time.
I'm a big believer in personal responsibility. Don't just jump on the truck that has your party emblazoned on its side. Please, please, take the time to read, study the issues (all views), and make informed decisions before you speak.
The election season and time leading up to the inauguration have been stressful for me because I do that, and it's hard sometimes to stand in the middle of the great divide. I'm staunchly bipartisan, though I did have particularly strong preferences in this election.
While waiting for election day and inauguration day, my stomach has knotted and ached at times while reading the hatefulness spewed from my fellow citizens (from both parties), while deleting emails I am fairly certain people didn't read all the way to the bottom or check out for validity before clicking "forward," and when listening to small children spout the views of their parents--because kids are honest if easily misled. They'll repeat what their parents say at home, and not only repeat it loud and clear, but more often than not grow to embrace it.
But now the election is over, the swearing in has been accomplished without chaos. I read something this morning about how amazing that is. So many people watching around the world live in countries where change of power almost guarantees violence and chaos. (I can't remember where I read that -- sorry for the lack of attribution.)
We are a country who can embrace our political differences (not to mention all the other kinds of differences! Wow!) and still, at the end of the work day, get on the highways, the railways, and in the air, and feel confident that we will be safe nearly 100% of the time as we rub shoulders -- in spite of those differences. What great privilege -- and what great responsibility.
Change we can believe in. That was the platform. President Barack Obama is one man and we're expecting a lot of change from him.
But change also happens one citizen at a time. What about you?
posted by Julie Kibler @ 12:56 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Preach it sista!
Excellent!! So important to reassess as things change and make decisions accordingly.
I'm almost breathing a sigh of relief that now the new administration is in and they've hit the ground running -- almost, because I think most of us will be closely watching the first 100 days to see what happens. Will this tension never lighten up?!
I will say though that I have been bowled over by what I've seen so far. If you haven't checked out the whitehouse.gov website yet, please do -- it's pretty impressive. I've subscribed to the White House blog and so far I've been able to track the executive orders signed (with links to the orders themselves) and there is a one week status report from the President via YouTube.
The internet and technology were a driving force during the campaign and I love how they've immediately been put to use to keep interested Americans involved in what's happening.
I am sure there will be days when the President and those around him may regret the transparency they've allowed into the government process. We will clearly be privy to much more of the "sausage making" than we ever have been before, but it's nice to have this visibility into what's happening and to feel like nobody is trying to hide anything.
I'm ready to pitch in and love the call to service (and even that Starbuck's has jumped on it). A friend of mine and I are planning to volunteer for a community project in February that involves taking down life histories for the elderly that are part of a program that allows them to remain in their homes. Other volunteers do maintenance and help out and part of the project includes video and written documentation. My friend has a goal of getting involved in a volunteer project each month and I'm going to try to emulate her.
Lisa, that volunteer project sounds amazing. A group did something similar with story recording (and darn it, I can't find the book Gail gave me last year for Christmas on it, and it's making me crazy, and I don't remember the name!), but yours takes it several steps further by targeting and doing it alongside physical service. How cool! I hope you'll blog about it when you do it.
Post a Comment
<< Home