Senator Obama’s victory in the Democratic Party’s nomination race fittingly demonstrates the audacity of hope and its power to bring about change we can believe in when we believe in our ability. Loads of congratulations are in order for the young American senator whose inspirational run has captured the attention of the world and which now primes him to take over as CEO of the
Here in
“…This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past. Our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for the country we love. The journey will be difficult. The road will be long. (We can) face this challenge with limitless faith in the capacity of the (Kenyan) people. Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then (we can be) absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended wars and secured our nation and restored our image. This was the moment--this was the time--when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves and our highest ideals."
Can we do that or shall we loaf about in anticipation of gifts from relatives in distant lands?
Can we do that or are we content to perpetually stand by the sidelines cheering in the dust as our leaders zoom past with promises of tomorrow?
Can we do that or are will we wait for our “principals” to set our development agenda and pace?
Can we do that?
6 comments:
I agree with you, for sure we can .But what really puzzles me most, is how? Do you know how we can bring change in this nation? Especially, now when nationalism is overtaken by tribalism and when the Nation’s elite are reasoning like tribal chiefs. I ask how?
Pathfinder
Thank you Pathfinder,
The more difficult part is to overcome the mental hurdle of not fully believing in our individual and collective abilities. You agree that we can, which is the first and big step in executing the change that we desire.
For instance, how is it that nationalism is overtaken by tribalism? First by acknowledging that tribalism is successfully perpetrated by the ruling elite because we, the youth, allow them to do so. We, the youth, are the ones who are beholden to the “tribal chiefs” even executing their war-mongering commands to physically fight “kabila adui yetu” for some spurious reason and tragic results. In the end, it is not the tribal chiefs who suffer the consequences by way of death, injury, incarceration and endless destitution.
The truth is that there is no tribal chief who will hold a gun to my head and force me to kick the living daylights out of, say, Pathfinder because he/she is from “kabila adui yetu”. It is a conscious decision that only I can make, most probably out of diminished self-confidence and unquestioning belief in my tribal chief’s capacity to design my life.
Why do we remain beholden to the tribal chiefs when there are no discernible positive returns for indulging them? Certainly not the piteous cash handouts thrown at us from SUV sunroofs and helicopters! What would happen if we took some time for introspection and flatly refused to give audience to these tribal chiefs? What would happen if we thought through the consequences of our personal actions before engaging in dubious activity on their behalf?
The demography of the voting register clearly establishes that the youth comprise the majority of voters. We need to believe in the power of that vote.
Thanks.
I clearly understand your point and agree with you that the main culprits in our nation’s political saga are our political leaders the “tribal chiefs”. With our blessing, I mean us the youth, they managed to play “Football” with the nation’s future.While in that "football" some of us the youth are spectators and some the ball it self .
I still ask how can we convince the youth to “believe in the power of that vote”? How do we make them, wake up so that they can control their destiny, instead of being misused by their tribal chiefs? In a nut shell, I mean to say, We have identified the problems but where do we start, to solve them ?
Pathfinder
We start with ‘self’ believing in their God-given capabilities. The ‘self’ must first have faith in their individual capacity to control their destiny and should not wait to be convinced about it. Before anyone else can harness their voting power to bring about useful change in leadership, ‘self’ must believe that they can.
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Nairobian Perspective we meet again. Actually I learnt about you from this blogger right here.
Obama's story is a challenge to us young generation. Yes we Can. But like Anon 11.15 I always ask myself, how?? How do we do it?
It's been said that we bloggers are already playing a very important role in turning this ship around and changing people's attitudes slowly by slowly. So we blog on.
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