Obama and the Spirit of Change

"On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord."

"The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness."

These are my favorite lines from the inspiring, eloquent speech President Obama gave today at his inauguration. It was honest, not avoiding the troubles of our current world, but still carried a tone of idealism. He inspired hope as he reminded us of the good parts of the American spirit: the determination, the hard work, the ability to enact change, and make dreams reality. His words made me believe that change was truly possible. Profound change making this nation better. And that I had a responsibility to contribute to this change.

As I looked at those 2 million people gathered at the Mall, I wondered how much they were filled with hope, how much that they believed that healthy change would occur quickly in the coming years. Did they see that they are a strong part of righting the overturned America? Or are we so accustomed to being victims and will continue to leave it to others? And in four years will we be disappointed that all our hopes for change were not met?

Obama will not save us on his own; his power will reside in inspiring us to change and create change. Values and preponderance of belief are what have brought us down and a change to these is what will turn this world around.

It Goes Without Saying...

It is remarkable how quietly people have taken the economic downturn. Starting in the financial and mortgage sectors, the rest of the economy has slid downwards. The only information one could get from the media was "things are bad;" no clear simplified discussion to actually educate anyone properly. Holding a degree in economics, even I was hard-pressed to get a coherent story of the causes and actual and anticipated effects. So the masses were fed hysteria and the preponderance of belief seemingly made fears become reality. As the stock market plummeted and people's savings disappeared, as jobs have been lost and businesses shut down, we have remained quiet. Where are the protests? Where are all those Washington Mutual employees who got screwed over by the greedy executives? Why are they and the shareholders not demanding back the millions earned by those "leaders"? There are likely many parties who benefited from the whole mortgage and mortgage-securities industry. I anticipate many who benefited the most were not the ones who were affected the most when the scheme unwound. Yet, if there is outrage, it remains boiling below. Or we just feel like victims again. Because, really, what could we do? Believe me, there are plenty of us smart, passionate people who don't need to be victims.