- Image by Getty Images via Daylife
Four years of waiting. Then another four (who would have thought?) . I cringed nearly every time I heard George W. Bush on the radio, or read about his latest foibles in the news . Now, finally it is reality. Change is upon us, in the form of the 44th president of the United States, the first African American president, Barack Obama. What will the future bring? No one knows, however this remarkable man has already brought new hope to millions.
Today, at the Family Foundation School (where I teach chemistry and photography), the IT department streamed the inaguration event to the entire school population. The gym was filled with students and staff, and with anticipation. I had already been impressed with this man’s apperent wisdom, eloquence, and intelligence. But today took my respect for Barack Obama to a new level. Students as well as staff were cheering, applauding, and chanting as if they themselves were standing on the Mall in Washington D.C. Many of the students stood throughout the entire ceremony. The math teacher next to me was in tears as she listened to Barack’s inaguration speech, and I saw no one within my eye-shot that was unmoved by what they heard. A message of hope, a message of unity, a message of change.
The most remarkable aspect of the speech, aside from any promises made by Obama were the principles he laid out for us. Honesty, integrity, and hard work. Exactly what we are trying to instill in our students at the Family Foundation School. The parallel was amazing, and more than any of us could have possibly hoped for. Barack appears ready to get to work, and we must do the same in every aspect of our own lives. Barack’s promise of a better future depends on each and every one of us doing our own part. In our case, we believe this means reaching out to our students with caring love, and modeling the honesty, integrity, and strong work ethic that we all believe is the only way to a better future for ourselves, and our nation.
Ripples
