In My Lifetime

I was born in the early seventies. I grew up in a barely segregated suburb of Metro Detroit. I remember being the only black girl in my entire elementary school. I remember how the face of my community changed between my early childhood and my graduation from high school. I remember being called the N-word as a child by other children who attended elementary school with me. And I remember being embraced by those same students during my high school years. Mostly I remember how my parents, who were in their late thirties when they adopted my brother and I, tried to prepare us for the world we would live in. Often, I remember my father telling me that I had so many more opportunities available to me than he would ever have, but that there were still limits on what we could achieve... that he didn't expect to see a Black person reach the highest office in our land in his lifetime.

Barack Obama was elected president of the United States of America. I wish my father had lived just one more year so he could've seen this. I wish he could've been able to say what my mother, and my 94 year old grandmother can say today. That yes, a Black man has been elected to the highest office, and it did happen in my lifetime.

The times, they are a-changing.

I won't spend a lot of time talking about why this is significant to me personally today, but I will say that every now and then we all need to shatter the beliefs we hold about what is out of reach. Every now and then we need to reaquaint ourselves with the limitless nature of possibility.

Comments

[andree]

very well said; thank you for that reminder. i am very happy for you and the US.

[angel Shannon]

Ditto.

And there is still so much to be done.

In metta,

A.

[Best Acne Treatment]

Yay Barack! Let's hope he can help us.

[Il-O]

best wishes to you. keep practicing hard and flowers will bloom on the withered tree.