Sunday, February 10, 2008

Nothing False About Hope!



“Nothing false about Hope!”

This man is still young, but already has shown some of the qualities visible in the great statesmen our world has seen. It is too soon to compare him with the likes of Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King, and others – but it does not mean that we cannot hope for such.

I am not an American, and therefore cannot vote in this election, but I share this hope with millions of others around the world; that we can again have an American president that will lead through inspiration rather than by threatening the rest of the planet.

“Yes, You Can!”

And if you do, the rest of us will be on your side...

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Update: 3/21/2008 after Obama's speech on Race

My grandpa was an Afrikaner. He supported Hitler, voted for Apartheid, hated the British, thought the pope was the Antichrist, and swore like a pig. Yet, he was the kindest man I had ever known. When grandma was not looking he would buy candy for the black kids on the farm, I saw him stop the car and get out because of his concern for a bird he had struck, and every night he would pray for us.

Although I strongly disagreed with his perspectives, I knew they were born from the suffering of the Afrikaner people during the Anglo Boer war. I loved him with all my heart. I could never ever disown him. Such is the complexity of human beings.

Nelson Mandela understood this. Obama's speech in Philadelphia shows that he does too.

Thank you Obama. You gave hope to a white South African that the world can be a better place. My wish is that the USA will see this truth as well.

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