This is a moment in history. Our children will one day be asking us, were you there the day our first black president was inaugurated? And I can say, yes.
“Yes we can,” Barack Obama, who was signed into office the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, tells us. Is it true? Can we really climb out of this recession—the worst one since the Great Depression—and get back on our feet?
At Santa Clara, where students still go to class and old palm trees are still uprooted and replaced with more attractive ones, the recession seems to be a myth. We push aside the promise of a terrible job market until our impending graduation, anxious to forget what lies ahead of us.
This isn’t really the real world, college. Here, cushioned beneath piles of homework and books, we’re safe.
“Stay in college for as long as you can,” my friend’s dad suggested. But, I can’t afford that. Maybe I’ll go abroad to teach English, but the world economy isn’t much better.
I suppose, for now, we’re just going to have to hang tight. Take what we can get.
The hype of “change” and the recent election has made Obama a somewhat idolized figure for weary Americans—especially, college students. Stressed about the worst recession since the Great Depression, a seemingly endless war overseas and the fear of unemployment after graduation, we tend to put this symbol of change in the newly elected Barack Obama up on an exaggerated pedestal.
But, Obama is no Santa Claus, superhero or Jesus Christ Superstar.
Like Obama himself said in his inauguration speech, change depends on ourselves as individuals.
"What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world," Obama spoke, "duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.
This is the price and the promise of citizenship."
We musn't assign our worries to "Super Obama" to solve them, but look to his presence as inspiration for change in our own lives. This may mean living frugally, making sacrifices to take care of our earth, and remaining hopeful despite our plight. But, we can do it, Obama suggests. And I think, Yes, we can.
“Yes we can,” Barack Obama, who was signed into office the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, tells us. Is it true? Can we really climb out of this recession—the worst one since the Great Depression—and get back on our feet?
At Santa Clara, where students still go to class and old palm trees are still uprooted and replaced with more attractive ones, the recession seems to be a myth. We push aside the promise of a terrible job market until our impending graduation, anxious to forget what lies ahead of us.
This isn’t really the real world, college. Here, cushioned beneath piles of homework and books, we’re safe.
“Stay in college for as long as you can,” my friend’s dad suggested. But, I can’t afford that. Maybe I’ll go abroad to teach English, but the world economy isn’t much better.
I suppose, for now, we’re just going to have to hang tight. Take what we can get.
The hype of “change” and the recent election has made Obama a somewhat idolized figure for weary Americans—especially, college students. Stressed about the worst recession since the Great Depression, a seemingly endless war overseas and the fear of unemployment after graduation, we tend to put this symbol of change in the newly elected Barack Obama up on an exaggerated pedestal.
But, Obama is no Santa Claus, superhero or Jesus Christ Superstar.
Like Obama himself said in his inauguration speech, change depends on ourselves as individuals.
"What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world," Obama spoke, "duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.
This is the price and the promise of citizenship."
We musn't assign our worries to "Super Obama" to solve them, but look to his presence as inspiration for change in our own lives. This may mean living frugally, making sacrifices to take care of our earth, and remaining hopeful despite our plight. But, we can do it, Obama suggests. And I think, Yes, we can.
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