We Hope, We Expect & We Will Demand A Change For The Good


The vision I see as I sit here watching this inauguration is nothing I have ever seen in the pages of the history books of my past years in school.  As I watch on television an estimated two million people have come in droves to experience this day in history, a day in which the first black President has taken office, a President that has managed to build an army of supporters these past months, as no other has.  President Obama has a heavy burden upon him now, he has made promises to millions, he has asked them to believe, he has promised them change and now after becoming the 44th President of these United States he must deliver.

 

I myself, did not vote for President Obama.  However, I am a proud American and I will support him.  At 22 years old and having just graduated from college this past summer, I have yet to live the American dream but I want to. I want to know that if I work hard I will be able to reach my goals. I want to know that if I am willing to work hard and sacrifice that in the end I can buy my dream. I want to know and believe that this right will never be taken from me.

President Obama has always shown himself to be an eloquent speaker,  today he did not disappoint his followers.  There were parts of his speech that struck a chord in me. 

"On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics."

I hope this is to mean that all of our legislators will work together for the good of the people. This is what they have been elected to do. No more fighting, no more filibustering, no more working for their own good and benefiting from lobbyists. Let them begin to work for us, work for the country for which you were elected to represent.

I have been afraid when during the campaign and even more recent times when I have heard talk of socialism with this President.  I want this to be wrong, I want this to be far from what President Obama will bring to this office. Another part of his speech stuck with me..

"In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom."

I want him to mean this, I want to know that my hard work will not be a give away to the unproductive. I will always be willing to help the less fortunate who are willing when able, to help themselves but I will not be willing to sit back and allow my hard earned money to be given away to those as the President stated "prefer leisure over work".

One last part of the speech that will stay with me in the hopes I see it come true during his presidency was:

"For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate."

 
As I watch former President Bush leave and I watch the warm exchange between the former and the new Presidents I watch in hope that he will be true to the change he has promised.  For if he is not, the millions of people that believed, the millions who braved the cold, the millions of people who walked the miles to be a part of today's history will be disappointed and the repercussions might be magnified by the staggering numbers of them. We would become a nation broken. 

I have promised myself to hope and wish for good to come. I have promised to try hard to not be cynical and allow our President to begin his journey along the promised path of change. That will not stop me from commenting and fighting for rights I feel threaten me as an American in search of the American dream.

In closing, I would like to say thank you to former President George Bush for his past eight years of sacrifice and service. He has taken such a battering from people, he has been blamed for everything, most of which he had no control. People have easily forgotten 9/11 and how our country felt at the time, how we felt scared, uncertain and under siege. They have forgotten how George Bush promised us safety and they have forgotten that since that terrible tragic day there has not been one attack on US soil. Yet they are ungrateful. George Bush is not to blame for the economic mess we are in, it was a concerted effort by many. He is not to blame for Hurricane Katrina, and he didn't cause Wall St. to fall greed did.  Former President Bush was just a scapegoat for the ones guilty of where we are today. So President Bush, my new neighbor welcome back to Texas, I wish you well and thank you for the service to our nation. God Bless You!

Speak Now America! we want to hear from you.