Last week I heard Rick Steves interviewed on GritTV and was thoroughly impressed with his stories and anecdotes about his travels around the world, reporting for PBS.
Well, I just got this clip of him and his short take on our American Empire and how we are perceived by the rest of the world. I highly recommend watching it and hearing what he is saying.
I can relate as I come from another country where I still have relatives living there. Some of what he says rings true in my family's view of America and what we have become know the world over for. I could say more, but I will let Rick speak for me, far more eloquently. As an aside, he is reputed considering running for a U.S. Representative district seat in Washington state. If only we could have a more open minded candidate for office here in South Carolina (Unlike Bob Inglis or our two Senators DeMint or Graham).
Monday, July 27, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
A Historic Day Indeed
My last post dealt with the results of the historic election victory of Barack Obama and I consider this post part two. Today I saw the American political and electoral process culminate in the swearing in of Mr. Obama as our country's 44th President. Watching it live today on T.V. was indeed a memory that has been encoded into my memory banks... a memory that I will live with for the rest of my life. My only regret is that two people in my life did not get to see it or understand it; one my father, who died in 2002. I think he would have liked Mr. Obama, even though he would disagree with him on some political views.
And the second person is my daughter, Danica, who is almost three years old. As I talked to her tonight as she prepared for her nightly ritual of being read to before going to sleep, I talked with her briefly about the significance of this day. She looked up at me, wide-eyed and listening to my every word... really not understanding the meaning of my words... and how could she? But the thought of what I had seen today in Washington, D.C. came home to me when I looked at her sitting on my knees.
With the future of our country in crisis, both economical and political, we are at a crossroads. Hard decisions and consequences face our land. What we need now, more than ever, is someone, a movement in fact, to see beyond the insular ways of the last decade plus. The era of "going-it-alone" is over. The United States is the better for looking beyond it's borders, it's provincial ways, and it's time-worn business as usual attitudes towards participatory democracy. I hope that a new era has emerged with the start of this term of office, but won't be surprised if it falters at times. Our country wasn't built overnight.
But a start is needed. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back on the horse of government of the people and for the people.
Which leads me to this last bit... I don't recall exactly where I heard this (probably Democracy Now or NPR), but a reporter tells the story of vacationing with this family this past summer (2008) in Europe. In Paris he meets a vacationing woman from England and they start discussing the upcoming election in the United States. Now this was before Barack Obama was solidified as the Democratic Party nominee. What she said to him took him off-guard: "We are watching you." He thought that statement was a bit dramatic and carried a lot of hyperbole, that the rest of the civilized (and developing) world was keenly interested in this election... would the mythical American process really elect a man of such a diverse and globally infused background... would the promise of a man (or woman) from humble beginnings from a cultural melting pot background really attain the highest office in our country?
He closes out his story of waking up the day after the election, on November 5th, 2008, and seeing all the various front pages of newspapers from all over the world, posted on the internet. It was then that he got what that lady from England said just a few short months earlier. In this moment, the United States of America showed, as it has on numerous occasions before, to the world that we, as a people, are capable of rising above the fears of our lesser selves and reaching for the promise of a better tomorrow. President Barack Obama is just a man, but a man who embodies our desire to be more than our lesser selves, to reach inward and summon the strength to change the course of history, one person at a time.
And isn't that how history is made.
Just like today.
And the second person is my daughter, Danica, who is almost three years old. As I talked to her tonight as she prepared for her nightly ritual of being read to before going to sleep, I talked with her briefly about the significance of this day. She looked up at me, wide-eyed and listening to my every word... really not understanding the meaning of my words... and how could she? But the thought of what I had seen today in Washington, D.C. came home to me when I looked at her sitting on my knees.
With the future of our country in crisis, both economical and political, we are at a crossroads. Hard decisions and consequences face our land. What we need now, more than ever, is someone, a movement in fact, to see beyond the insular ways of the last decade plus. The era of "going-it-alone" is over. The United States is the better for looking beyond it's borders, it's provincial ways, and it's time-worn business as usual attitudes towards participatory democracy. I hope that a new era has emerged with the start of this term of office, but won't be surprised if it falters at times. Our country wasn't built overnight.
But a start is needed. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back on the horse of government of the people and for the people.
Which leads me to this last bit... I don't recall exactly where I heard this (probably Democracy Now or NPR), but a reporter tells the story of vacationing with this family this past summer (2008) in Europe. In Paris he meets a vacationing woman from England and they start discussing the upcoming election in the United States. Now this was before Barack Obama was solidified as the Democratic Party nominee. What she said to him took him off-guard: "We are watching you." He thought that statement was a bit dramatic and carried a lot of hyperbole, that the rest of the civilized (and developing) world was keenly interested in this election... would the mythical American process really elect a man of such a diverse and globally infused background... would the promise of a man (or woman) from humble beginnings from a cultural melting pot background really attain the highest office in our country?
He closes out his story of waking up the day after the election, on November 5th, 2008, and seeing all the various front pages of newspapers from all over the world, posted on the internet. It was then that he got what that lady from England said just a few short months earlier. In this moment, the United States of America showed, as it has on numerous occasions before, to the world that we, as a people, are capable of rising above the fears of our lesser selves and reaching for the promise of a better tomorrow. President Barack Obama is just a man, but a man who embodies our desire to be more than our lesser selves, to reach inward and summon the strength to change the course of history, one person at a time.
And isn't that how history is made.
Just like today.
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