I remember numerous occasions, during my formative years, when one of our leaders, stepped up, and challenged us to be better. To live better.
To reach for larger goals.
I remember:
Mr. Ozone, Senator Al Gore, telling us we could fix the Ozone Hole.
And we then did it!
I remember:
I remember:
President Jimmy Carter asking the Country to strive for Energy Independence, by the year 2000.
We took bold steps to achieve this Goal; then President Reagan took rash steps, to roll it all back.
I remember:
Activist Martin Luther King, challenging us, as a Nation, to judge a person, not by the color of their skin, but instead by the content of their character.
I had thought, we had finally reached MLK's Dream, with the election of Barack Obama -- but sometimes progress is painfully slow, with many steps backwards, in the process.
I remember:
President John F Kennedy asking us, what WE could do for our Country!
I think many of us, who heard that challenge, are still working at it, living it out Day-by-Day.
Funny thing is, what I DON'T remember is:
Either the Media, or the opposition Party, or the Talking Heads, throwing a Hissy-fit, when any of these Leaders, dared to speak out, and tell the Nation, what they thought needed to be done.
Adversity does funny things to people.
It can make you angry. It can make you sad.
It can make you act out. It can make you withdraw.
But one things I've learned about Adversity --
the way it defeats those it infects --
is that it makes us "feel helpless", with no way out.
Adversity, can leave one, with No Hope, in the face of daunting challenges.
Feelings of malaise, and sadness, and depression, can arise, in its wake.
But those feelings all have in common, at their core,
the gut-wrenching fear of "being helpless"
in the face of that Adversity.
And the cure?
To get off your butt and do something about it!
In other words, People will start to feel better,
when they take action, and become part of the solution --
even it is only a very small part.
The key here, is to "seize control back",
from destiny, from the powers that be,
from the wingers' hypocrisy,
from all those procrastination ghosts in the mirror.
Life is what you make it --
might as well make it something interesting,
and become a force to be reckoned with!
(That is what all those childhood leaders, taught me.)
Someday soon, we may be able to say ...
I remember when:
President Barack Obama challenged the country to provide affordable, quality Health Care, to all its citizens.
And the Country took those words to heart,
and made it happen!
That is the power of Dreams ... power of Goals.
Hopefully brave Leaders, will always step up,
rise to occasion. ... To tell us what needs to be done.
Hopefully they will continue to challenge us to be better. To live better.
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... and Hopefully, we will not lose Hope, in the meantime.
Change moves like a Glacier sometimes.
And at other times, like a raging flood.
Which one we are in now, is still yet to be seen.
But we do live in interesting times, don't we?
