History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.
~ Martin Luther King Jr
I feel the winds of change blowing and they are blowing across America.
They started in Iowa, went to stage three in South Carolina and are now at hurricane force in California.
On Super Tuesday they will reach full force as Americans realize they finally have a leader who will lead them out of the quagmire of the Cheney/Bush years of greed, arrogance and self-serving power.
That leader is Barack Obama who is saying We can change America and Americans are listening and responding in growing numbers.
I am reminded of Robert F Kennedy, running for President in 1968, who caught the imagination of millions of Americans yearning for another choice but was assassinated in Los Angeles.
People wanted to touch him and be close to him just like they are now doing with Obama . They sensed his integrity, compassion and genuine concern just as they do now with Obama. They were tired of an unjust war, of politics as usual and wanted a leader they could trust, a leader who would listen to them and respond, a leader who would take them forward and not backward.
Ethel Kennedy, widow of Robert F Kennedy, remembers Bobby so well and calls Obama, whom she endorsed yesterday, "a magnetic force" and said: “Barack is so like Bobby, who struggled for the rights of the poor in the Mississippi Delta and Appalachia, traveled to California to stand in solidarity with Cesar Chavez and farm workers, and fought to end another war that cost so many lives."
As the Hopi Elders have said ~ We are the ones we have been waiting for and Barack Obama has already been a lightning rod in bringing all races and genders together in a common conspiracy to change America for the better. The hopi's call it a great river ~
" There is a river flowing now very fast
It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid.
They will try to hold onto the shore.
They will feel they are being torn apart and they will suffer greatly.
Know the river has its destination."
For the pain of Vietnam and Iraq, the assassinations of the Kennedy's and Martin Luther King, the trauma of Watergate, the moral scandal of Bill Clinton and the wanton excesses of executive power with the Bush administration has almost erased the joy and hope-filled memories of what we once stood for, what we once accomplished and once meant to mankind.
Have we forgotten the words of Benjamin Franklin ? " Wise and good men are, in my opinion, the strength of the state ~ much more so than riches and arms."
America was conceived by men who believed in themselves and their destiny. They took a stand on human and spiritual values despite great risk, aloneness and hardship. The hope for America lies within the hearts of its people ~ not within the walls of its institutions.
Barack Obama speaks to me and millions of Americans who can feel these winds of change and are committed to changing America and our voices and votes must be counted now.
Yes, we can change America and here to celebrate that affirmation is a new independent four minute video featuring top music and film stars including will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, Jesse Dylan, John Legend, Scarlett Johansson, and many others... Take a look and listen to the video everyone is talking about -- the 'Yes We Can' song...and Vote for Obama on Tuesday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHA_ZTvOgUM
Allen L Roland http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/2008/02/03.html
Freelance Online columnist Allen L Roland is available for comments , interviews and speaking engagements ( allen@allenroland.com )
Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net
