A Forum for the New World Order

Today, many of us witnessed the inauguration of our 44th President, Barack Obama. As a nation, we have cried out in rejoice for the changes to come; what we perceive to be the end to our eight-year-long nightmare of being lied to, deceived and oppressed. We are embracing the thought of a new regime, a new voice to lead the masses to brighter days than these. We have tasked this man with the burden of an entire world: economic crises, war, poverty, rising unemployment, increasing foreclosures, and amidst all that, restoring our place as a world power and leader.

There is nothing wrong with hope. It is the fuel that drives us and the target upon which we set our sights. It is every rung on the ladder that we climb to achieve greater heights. It is in our very nature to want to grow, to expand, to exceed, to become greater than our ancestors, to become more than what we’ve been told we can be. We need hope in our lives. 

But, with hope, there must also be caution.

While we hope that President Obama can right our ships and stop the hemorrhaging, we must also realize that, while we have charged him with that task, he has also charged us with one: to take action in our own lives to change our own world. 

We must remember that things will not change overnight. There is much work to be done. We must remain hopeful that things will, indeed, get better if we have the resolve to withstand the hardest times. We must keep an eye on the past and remember what has been done to put us here, and to not repeat those mistakes. We must realize that, even as the President has said, things will get worse before they get better.

I’ve heard many today criticize his inaugural address in that there was no “we will march” call to action or specific demands asked of the people. I would argue the opposite. While President Obama may not have stated the methods in which we can change our world, he has instead left an open-ended invitation to us all to find our own way to change the world around us in the ways in which we are able to do so.

To me, this is where our hope lies. Not in one man, but in many. In us all. 

We cannot burden this man with the task of saving the world without doing something in our own lives to aid his cause. We must remember that he is but one man. He can do many things with his power, but his mission has been to return the power to us. To you. To me. That is our charge. We have been given hope that we can make a difference in a world that we once saw as unchangeable. We have been given the inspiration to evolve ourselves into greater people—people that will make up a greater nation. We have been given the initiative to do what is within our own reach to change this country and this world for the better. 

This administration may not succeed in all that it hopes to achieve, but it will exist as a symbol: a symbol of hope to those who have no hope; of peace to those that know no peace; of power to those who have never had power. That is what this election and this inauguration has been about to me: a symbol of a new day for all of us. We remember now all that is possible when we stand together as a country.

Maybe you don’t agree with his policies, or don’t like him as a person, or don’t want him to succeed. But, maybe you’re also missing the point of what many of us see in President Obama. He has reminded us of what this country was meant to be: a nation governed by the people, where we have the power to influence our own destiny. He gives us hope of what is possible and what can be achieved. We are optimistic again because of what he stands for, and to me, that is more important right now than anything else.

We needed hope. And now we have it. Let’s make the most of it.