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Obama Spoke, World Listened
20-Jan-2009
Today the promise of change took place at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. My generation has witnessed many historical events such as landing on the moon to the fall of the Berlin Wall to .........the current shift of the most powerful position of the world to an African American man "whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant".
Today is already marked as another milestone in the history of the United States and the world, because what happens in the USA directly can effect every person and the living thing on our planet!
Today "Barack Hussein Obama" said so much but in so little words. His historical speech should closely be read by everyone and not only listened to or watched.
Today once again I was "proud to be an" Iranian-American. As realistic as I always have tried to be, but I too always " have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord" .
...and Today if nothing else and no one else ! we proved to ourselves that "yes we can".
Beyond that I am not going to add much more to the wide coverage and the on-going analysis by all the world media. I already had said much of what I had to say during the Obama Campaign and now is time for "action" and to "hope" that the "promises" of "change" can gradually transformed to the realities of our lifetime.
Having said that, I am going to set aside some of the most meaningful parts of Obama's speech !... and only highlight the scripts that addressed the US policies towards the world:
"....As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. ........ And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.
Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.
We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort - even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.
To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it. "
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poor you
by David ET on Wed Jan 21, 2009 12:04 PM PSTdose of reality
by poor you (not verified) on Wed Jan 21, 2009 05:49 AM PSTSorry to barge in your pity-me party David, the first time I saw your blog was on the first page, so yes it was featured.
What does your blog being featured or not have to do with Nazanin not being qualified for the iranian of the year or Hossein Derakhshan or anyone else?
I feel the same...
by Azarin Sadegh on Wed Jan 21, 2009 12:06 AM PSTThanks David!
I feel proud to be an Iranian-American too...but today my American part is much brighter!!
Azarin
On another note
by David ET on Wed Jan 21, 2009 01:58 AM PSTIf only Obama had criticized or supported Israel or Hamas instead of talking about hope, peace and equality (or if I had questioned why Dariush, Zion or ,.......are here!) this blog would have been featured and had 144 comments by now! ;-)
I was even going to suggest Hezbollah and Hamas as "Iranians of the year" but then I thought no need, some here already treat them that way!!
But then I better not state my opposition to Hamas because then Nazanin Afshin-Jam would not even qualify as a possible candidate for Iranian of the year by Iranian.com although she and HER organization have been the most proactive on THIS website trying to make an actual difference! while Hossein Derakhshan does qualify!!!!!
Oh sorry this was about Obama but then lets face it, the STUFF that I just wrote about sells better!
cheers anyway because its a new DAY everywhere else!
THE BOMB
by DW Duke on Tue Jan 20, 2009 07:37 PM PSTWe are good to go with Obama aka "THE BOMB." :)
Be careful David and Darius, no doubt you will soon be criticized for supporting someone as conservative and anti-terrorist as "THE BOMB." LOL
VIVE OBAMA ! ;0)
by Darius Kadivar on Tue Jan 20, 2009 10:10 PM PSTTime to shake that Rubber Tree Plant !
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC18w-1_Wcs&feature...
David Jaan
by ebi amirhosseini on Tue Jan 20, 2009 04:32 PM PSTThe same feelings here!
Ebi aka Haaji
David
by Anonymous commentor (not verified) on Tue Jan 20, 2009 04:10 PM PSTi'm proud to stand with you... and obama.
yes, we can.
The Promise of World Peace...
by alborz on Tue Jan 20, 2009 04:06 PM PST//reference.bahai.org/en/t/uhj/PWP/pwp-1.html
Here are excerpts of the first few pages...
To the Peoples of the World:
The Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries have inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless generations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the sacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at long last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history it is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad diversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible but inevitable....
“The winds of despair”, Bahá’u’lláh wrote, “are, alas, blowing from every direction, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is daily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be discerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably defective.” This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the common experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are conspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United Nations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the international economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the intense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to increasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to characterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have succumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and therefore ineradicable.
To choose such a course is not to deny humanity’s past but to understand it. The Bahá’í Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous condition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process leading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race in a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The human race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary stages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of its individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its turbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.
Whatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold, however dark the immediate circumstances, the Bahá’í community believes that humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its ultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the convulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly impelled will serve to release the “potentialities inherent in the station of man” and reveal “the full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality”.
The resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands cannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the violent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the spiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and saddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the extent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual values which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique moral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.
The time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether of the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give account of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is the “new world” promised by these ideologies? Where is the international peace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the breakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the aggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why is the vast majority of the world’s peoples sinking ever deeper into hunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the Pharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth century is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?
Alborz