A Chance to Work Together

Did you get a chance to hear Barack Obama’s Closing Argument speech? View it here at YouTube, or read it here at Politico. Regardless of who you are planning on voting for, you should read or listen to what he said.

I’m not here to tell you who to vote for. I’ve made up my mind and by now most people have too. However, I want to talk about a few things that Obama said in his speech that gave me hope for a better world at a time when I’d just about run out of hope.

In his speech Obama talked of Americans working together towards a common goal. On the surface this seems like such a simplistic idea, but it is a concept that is urgently needed now. For too long we have been a nation divided: blue states vs. red states; ethnic race vs. ethnic race; citizens vs. illegal alien; straight vs. gay; have vs. have not; the list goes on and on. We have become a nation filled with angry people and violence is on the rise because of it.

We have to stop and realize that we are all part of the same country, even the same planet. Here’s a quote from the speech: “There’s no shortage of anger and bluster and bitter partisanship out there. We don’t need more heat. We need more light. I’ve learned in my life that you can stand firm in your principles while still reaching out to those who might not always agree with you.” We need to agree to disagree. We need to remember that everyone, every single person is unique with their own view of the world and their own opinions.

We need to move in a new direction as a nation. We need to regain our belief that tomorrow can truly be a better day. We need hope. Here’s another quote: “Hope is not blind optimism. It’s not ignoring the enormity of the task before us or the roadblocks that stand in our path. … I know that hope has been the guiding force behind the most improbable changes this country has ever made. In the face of tyranny, it’s what led a band of colonists to rise up against an Empire. In the face of slavery, it’s what fueled the resistance of the slave and the abolitionist, and what allowed a president to chart a treacherous course to ensure that the nation would not continue half slave and half free. In the face of war and Depression, it’s what led the greatest of generations to free a continent and heal a nation. In the face of oppression, it’s what led young men and women to sit at lunch counters and brave fire hoses and march through the streets of Selma and Montgomery for freedom’s cause. That’s the power of hope — to imagine, and then work for, what had seemed impossible before.”

Regardless of which candidate winds up in the White House in 2009 and beyond I would like to hope that we can pull together and fix the big mess that this country is in. It will not be easy to dig our way out of the pit we’re in. Unless we roll up our sleeves and work together, nothing is going to change and things will only get worse.

My vote is for hope.