Barack Obama Has Done It - What about You?

Incredulous? Surprised? Elated? Whatever you are feeling at this moment, this is a defining point in history. Barack Obama, the first African-American President of the United States.

‘I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.’ Dr Martin Luther King from his Rhetoric, I have a Dream

'And in another great demonstration which represents a shift in dynamics within the spiritual realm which is working for the greater good. In the greater scheme of things, an indication of the sign of the times this will certainly go down in History as being one if not the most life-changing and powerful statements to the world. In another act of defiance against the mindset of those who said and believed it would never happen – WELL IT HAS, Barack Obama is the first African-American President of the United States of America and you’d better believe it. So where do you stand in the persistence and insistence of following your own dreams? No excuse whatsoever!! Esther Austin

"Don't wish it was easier; wish you were better. Don't wish for less problems; wish for more skills. Don't wish for less challenge; wish for more wisdom." - Jim Rohn

Barack Obama an icon, whose name can join the plethora of greats from the history books of time. Barack Obama now represents that iconic something which many feel is lacking within our community, something which the nation has been crying out for time after time. A Black Role Model. I laugh because even do, take a look people upon the platform which this man is standing. One can not even dare to imagine and yet, it has happened. Can someone get any higher or greater than this, other than standing in the shoes of Almighty God?

"Someone was hurt before you; wronged before you; beaten before you; humiliated before you; raped before you; yet, someone SURVIVED." - Maya Angelou

Yet more importantly, apart from our own agenda, this man represents something symbolically profound. He has turned his dream, his vision into that of conviction of faith in believing he could make it to the mountaintop and for me, what is significant about this is his journey. It is not about where he is now but that journey along which hope, determination, tenacity, perseverance, courage, ambition and pure faith took him on the road to the place he now reigns upon.

I am sure, he is a man who is aware of the consequences that could rear their ugly heads in the form of race hate and reprisals to negatively feed off his success and thwart the future for this black man. This man knows of the huge responsibility which he now carries upon his shoulders. Yet more poignantly he knows that he has got this far and taking that dream that Dr Martin Luther King spoke about and turning it into a reality he is now the first African-American man to become President of the U, S of A and in this defining moment, he represents HOPE to the masses.

“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” Napleon Hill

The great Marcus Garvey once said ‘Up You Mighty Race, You Can Accomplish What You Will’ and this is something which each and every one of us should use as a mantra. He represents the dreams and visions of many, from as far back as the history books define our struggle for power and the right to stand where others have stood.

He stands on the shoulders of great men and women who have gone before, whose lives represented the fight for democracy and freedom, who chose to make a stand, even at the expense of loosing their lives. He stands on the great words of prolific leaders like Marcs Garvey who once said ‘Up You Mighty Race, you Can Accomplish What you Will’ and Dr Martin Luther King with his famous ‘I have a Dream.’ So what is this saying to us, who have opportunities every day surrounding us, but for which we are blinded because of our own negative limitations and beliefs and by not having the courage to step outside of our own corridors of fear to say ‘At least I will try.’

He stands for progress. He epitomizes strength, courage, determination, hope, vision. He epito0mises everything that we as a people need to learn a lesson from.

This lesson in its simplicity is – that you can achieve and be anything you want, you just have to have the power of conviction and belief in the message that is in your heart.

75% of people’s thoughts are negative, a well known fact and whatever we focus on is what we get. Therefore, it serves to note that if we galvanised ourselves and monitored our thoughts towards the positive, can you image who we could be? Conspiracy theories have been floating around the issues of his race, agenda, color etc. Yet for me quite simply this man looked past all this because ‘he had a dream’ and regardless to what stood before him, he knew that with a strong team around him, a supportive framework, understanding the dynamics of what it truly means to make a sacrifice in order to gain, he now stands victorious in a place where no black man has stood before, and I dare any of you to let the defeatist in you say I can’t do it’ – and that ‘it’ is whatever you have always dreamed of or aspired to be.

‘Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." Dr Martin Luther King