Tuesday 20 January 2009

A Change is Gonna Come......


Well today's the day! Barack Obama is finally inaugurated as America's 44th president and, first black president. A truly historic day.

And despite the enormous challenges that lie ahead, today seems to be a day of real celebration, anticipation and expectation. Exceedingly high expectations infact, not just among Americans, but around the world too.

Mr Obama certainly appears to represent a new approach, a new tone and the promise of a new era. And in the current climate, people are only too ready to embrace an opportunity for positivity and optimism. Yet in his own words, "change will not come if we wait for some other person". The rest of us cannot sit back and expect one man to change the world. We each have our part to play.

So as well as being a day of celebration for Barack Obama and all that he stands for, what if today is also an opportunity for each of us to look at what we can do to make the world a better place? How can we live up to some of those high expectations too?

We all have greatness within us. We are far more capable than we think we are. We are all much more than we think we are. And if you're one of the many who admire and respect Barack Obama, then take a moment to consider the following;

  • What specifically is it that he demonstrates?
  • What exactly do you admire and respect about him?
  • Where do you see those qualities in yourself?
  • How can you be more of that now?

In the meantime, let's wish him well........and remember

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek" Barack Obama

Dx

PS Watch him again here http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VjnygQ02aW4

Monday 5 January 2009

A Poem for our times.......?


IF by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you, Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too,

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master, If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster, And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken, Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings, And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings, And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew, To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you, Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you; If all men count with you, but none too much,

If you can fill the unforgiving minute, With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

--Rudyard Kipling--