"i have a dream..."
(from a speech to the mount toasmasters club in november 2008)
Winston Churchill once famously said that you could trust the Americans to do the right thing, after they have tried every other alternative. Over the past decade, a similar healthy cynicism of America was warranted but with the election of Barack Hussein Obama as the 44th President of the United States, the Americans regained some measure of the idealism that symbolizes the country - to themselves and to the rest of the world. The American Presidential election gives hope to all those round the globe who believe in the strength of democracy, the rights of the individual and the possibility of dreams. Moreover, the result has clear resonance for us in Sri Lanka.
A few months ago, I gave a ride to some children of some friends of mine after a cricket match. The talk in the car was all about Obama and the American elections. One bossy little girl even made reference to Martin Luther King’s “dream” speech. I was astonished. These kids were all of 9 years old and I realized that something was afoot in the world.
As a boy, I was hooked on all things American, especially John F. Kennedy and the space program. I had my ear glued to our little valve radio set (remember those?) when Neil Armstrong said “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. I loved the stories about Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence, about Lincoln and the American civil war, the wild wild west and Chief Sitting Bull and how America changed the world with their intervention in World War 2. I was sold on tales about the Wright Brothers, Thomas Edison, Bell, Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project, not to mention Mark Twain, Hemingway, Bob Dylan and hot dogs.
Who can argue with the opening preamble from the Declaration of Independence which reads;
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”
Alright, maybe “creator” is arguable but the rest is pure idealism. Unfortunately (or fortunately as the case may be), one does tend to grow up. Among my watershed moments there were two that defined my subsequent cynicism of matters American and the beacon on the hill illusion. I remember reading a newspaper report of the Mai Lai massacre in Vietnam and then there was this book called “The Quiet American” by Graham Greene. My idols, it seemed, had enormous feet of clay. I learnt that Kennedy was not quite the saint he was made out to be. Then there was the Saigon airlift, Watergate and Contragate.
We had the American intervention in Nicaragua and their constant refusal to recognize (until recently) the State of Palestine and the isolation of Cuba. More recently, we had the war on Iraq, Guantanomo Bay, atrocities in Afghanistan, Bush’s refusal to sign the Koyoto Principals and the business with hanging chad that was to cost Al Gore and the world dearly.
And yet, despite growing cynicism, there was the thought that one would far prefer an imperfect America and her damaged ideas of democracy than other forms of “democracy” elsewhere on the globe – or communism for that matter.
Democracy as a system of Government by the people for the people is fundamentally important for the survival of our societies. At its core, the concept is all about elected representation and integrity. It about each individual’s right to universally recognized freedoms and liberties. If you think about it, democracy is not about the rule of the majority but about inclusiveness of minorities. In our world, these concepts have been damaged, twisted, and turned around.
Barack Hussein Obama is an African American. The African Americans make up about 12.8% of the population of the United States and within that percentage, people from Kenya are an even smaller minority. Mind you, the population of the United States of America is approx. 300 million. In fact, the Rev Jessie Jackson, the black civil rights veteran said that Obama was not black enough for the Presidency. Obama’s middle name, in the context of 9/11 and the subsequent attitude of Americans to Islam, by itself should have made it difficult for him to live in America and be a public figure - leave aside run for the highest office in the land.
Apart from all this is the fact that hardly 40 years ago, blacks were non citizens in their own country. They had to stand at the back of busses, drink water from fountains that were marked “coloreds”, could not eat in restaurants that white America ate at, had separate schools and even separate bathing areas on the beach. Amazingly, when it occurred, the “mixed’ marriage of Obama’s parents was illegal in 19 of the United States. Blacks in power were pictured in the inward eye in the way that inter galactic flight and water driven cars were looked at. Pure fiction. One of the defining pictures of the election was the Rev. Jessie Jackson in tears of joy and wonder that the “dream” was coming true. It matters not if Obama turns out to be an even worse President than Bush (although one hopes otherwise!). What does matter is the fact of his election and the will of a people to change.
Kennedy quoting John Winthrop said;
"We must always consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill--the eyes of all people are upon us."
Winston Churchill once famously said that you could trust the Americans to do the right thing, after they have tried every other alternative. Over the past decade, a similar healthy cynicism of America was warranted but with the election of Barack Hussein Obama as the 44th President of the United States, the Americans regained some measure of the idealism that symbolizes the country - to themselves and to the rest of the world. The American Presidential election gives hope to all those round the globe who believe in the strength of democracy, the rights of the individual and the possibility of dreams. Moreover, the result has clear resonance for us in Sri Lanka.
A few months ago, I gave a ride to some children of some friends of mine after a cricket match. The talk in the car was all about Obama and the American elections. One bossy little girl even made reference to Martin Luther King’s “dream” speech. I was astonished. These kids were all of 9 years old and I realized that something was afoot in the world.
As a boy, I was hooked on all things American, especially John F. Kennedy and the space program. I had my ear glued to our little valve radio set (remember those?) when Neil Armstrong said “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. I loved the stories about Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence, about Lincoln and the American civil war, the wild wild west and Chief Sitting Bull and how America changed the world with their intervention in World War 2. I was sold on tales about the Wright Brothers, Thomas Edison, Bell, Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project, not to mention Mark Twain, Hemingway, Bob Dylan and hot dogs.
Who can argue with the opening preamble from the Declaration of Independence which reads;
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”
Alright, maybe “creator” is arguable but the rest is pure idealism. Unfortunately (or fortunately as the case may be), one does tend to grow up. Among my watershed moments there were two that defined my subsequent cynicism of matters American and the beacon on the hill illusion. I remember reading a newspaper report of the Mai Lai massacre in Vietnam and then there was this book called “The Quiet American” by Graham Greene. My idols, it seemed, had enormous feet of clay. I learnt that Kennedy was not quite the saint he was made out to be. Then there was the Saigon airlift, Watergate and Contragate.
We had the American intervention in Nicaragua and their constant refusal to recognize (until recently) the State of Palestine and the isolation of Cuba. More recently, we had the war on Iraq, Guantanomo Bay, atrocities in Afghanistan, Bush’s refusal to sign the Koyoto Principals and the business with hanging chad that was to cost Al Gore and the world dearly.
And yet, despite growing cynicism, there was the thought that one would far prefer an imperfect America and her damaged ideas of democracy than other forms of “democracy” elsewhere on the globe – or communism for that matter.
Democracy as a system of Government by the people for the people is fundamentally important for the survival of our societies. At its core, the concept is all about elected representation and integrity. It about each individual’s right to universally recognized freedoms and liberties. If you think about it, democracy is not about the rule of the majority but about inclusiveness of minorities. In our world, these concepts have been damaged, twisted, and turned around.
Barack Hussein Obama is an African American. The African Americans make up about 12.8% of the population of the United States and within that percentage, people from Kenya are an even smaller minority. Mind you, the population of the United States of America is approx. 300 million. In fact, the Rev Jessie Jackson, the black civil rights veteran said that Obama was not black enough for the Presidency. Obama’s middle name, in the context of 9/11 and the subsequent attitude of Americans to Islam, by itself should have made it difficult for him to live in America and be a public figure - leave aside run for the highest office in the land.
Apart from all this is the fact that hardly 40 years ago, blacks were non citizens in their own country. They had to stand at the back of busses, drink water from fountains that were marked “coloreds”, could not eat in restaurants that white America ate at, had separate schools and even separate bathing areas on the beach. Amazingly, when it occurred, the “mixed’ marriage of Obama’s parents was illegal in 19 of the United States. Blacks in power were pictured in the inward eye in the way that inter galactic flight and water driven cars were looked at. Pure fiction. One of the defining pictures of the election was the Rev. Jessie Jackson in tears of joy and wonder that the “dream” was coming true. It matters not if Obama turns out to be an even worse President than Bush (although one hopes otherwise!). What does matter is the fact of his election and the will of a people to change.
Kennedy quoting John Winthrop said;
"We must always consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill--the eyes of all people are upon us."
And so it proved to be on the 4th of November as the results of the American Presidential election scrolled in.
In his soaring acceptance speech, Obama spoke of bending the arc of history to make a better world. It is in that moment, in the context of the sum total of the achievements of his election, that there is resonance for us in Sri Lanka as well. After all the American Republic is only 230 years old and we in Sri Lanka have the benefit of 2,500 years of unparallel history.
On that remarkable night of the 4th of November, Obama went on to say;
“This is our time - to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: yes, we can. “
On that remarkable night of the 4th of November, Obama went on to say;
“This is our time - to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: yes, we can. “
Someone once said that man is the only animal who laughs. Equally so, man is the only animal who dares to hope. I have a dream that somewhere in Sri Lanka, on some remote dusty playing field, there is a kid screaming out to his or her mates. “We can! Yes, we can!”. And, in fading light, the other children gather around this child.
posted by the scribe at 10:14 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home