Barracking for Obama

Tuesday, 27 January 2009

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This week’s column was going to be about clearing out the kitchen cupboards, but after witnessing the inspiring events on the television last week covering Barack Obama’s inauguration to the office of the President of the United States of America, writing about giving the kitchen a spruce up seemed extremely trite. So those pearls of wisdom will have to wait until next week. I wanted to write about something a little deeper – something inspirational – in light of the great oratory that USA’s first Afro-American president unleashed on not only people in his own country – but in many other countries around the world. Obama struck a chord with a global audience eager for positive messages and a glimmer of hope that times ahead could be more peaceful and more promising on so many levels. The expression: Think Global, Act Local came to mind. That was followed by another saying my mother uttered to my father many times as he headed out the door to pursue his passion for community projects before he’d completed his chores around the home. “Put your own house in order first!” she’d call after her extremely busy husband as he was turning the key in the ignition and preparing to reverse out the driveway. Actually, it’s not bad advice, especially when considered at the beginning of a New Year, when resolutions are still fresh in our minds. Hope sure is a wonderful thing. We’re surrounded by change. There’s the new US president, and a new government in our own country. Whichever side of the political fence you live on, the potential and opportunities for change has a powerful, energising effect and no matter what our beliefs, we all long for a better way. American minister, artist, author, tutor, sculptor and musicianRobert Fulghum wrote this passage in 1937 and its message is a timeless one:Most of what I really needed to know about how to live,and what to do, I learned inkindergarten …These things I learned. Share everything. Play fair.Don’t injure people. Put things back where you found them.Clean up your own mess. Don’t take things that aren’t yours. Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Learn some and think some; draw and paint, sing and dance, play and work every day some.When you go out into the outside world, watch for traffic.Be aware of the sense of wonder …The Golden Rule is Love …Think of what a better world it would be if we all had a basic policy for our nation and other nations – to always put things back where we found them and clean up our own mess.In a way, this kind of relates to cleaning out the kitchen cupboards, so watch this space for next week’s exciting instalment.