Obama, Change, and Distant Friends
It’s been fascinating to watch events unfold on the other side of the world this week.Quite apart from having family in America (my uncle and cousin live in California), throughout the years I have been writing a blog on the internet, I have come to know quite a number of the American people. I was going to write about their idealism, hopes, fears, ambitions, and so on – but you eventually realise that people are just people, wherever they live.
The only thing that has historically divided the expectations of people around the world has been their life experience – but education, the internet, and access to information has changed everything. Perhaps that’s why we take an interest in each other, even though we are often worlds apart.
I can’t help but remember an off-hand comment I made a year or so ago – that the American people wouldn’t realise what they had until it wasgone. Having lived through a presidency that moved the bar quite considerably in terms of diversity, sexual equality, and a first real taste of socialism, the thought of recanting any of the freedoms fought so desperately for is unthinkable – and yet it is happening.
While my rational mind tells me the events unfolding on the other side of the world are nothing to do with me, and that I have no business passing comment, I can’t help feeling that my heart is with the many friends I have made that will be marching in their various cities this weekend.
Good luck, and stay safe.