Obama's Speech: A Reflection

"Thou shall not sit idly by." -Ellie Wiesel

June 4, 2009

I realize that Barack Obama is only a man. He is not some sort of saint and has already done a few things that liberal Americans did not agree with. But, boy, can that man speak. I have not even set foot in America since he was elected president, yet my heart is happy knowing that he is there and that he has the courage to face the issues we face as a world. Since being in Africa, I have realized that everyone wants a piece of this man. He might be the most beloved president ever and he has the luck of following the worst. He is only a man, and yet, he has become my modern day Gandhi, who was also just a man but tried, as Obama is doing, to bring us together. To make the world a better place.

I listen to his speech in front of my one window that receives short wave radio, in my village in the middle of Tanzania. Tears stream down my face as I hold the small, battery-operated radio at the right angle to receive the transmission. Ironically, during one part of the speech another station overlaps it that is playing "Hallelujah". Hallelujah indeed.

The tears come from happiness, they mourn for events that happened much before my birth, they wash away the fear that I have held onto since that Fall morning when I was 17 and realized that the world would never be the same. Barack Obama may be only a man, but he is a man who reminds and inspires me that each one of us no matter how little we are, (even if we are just a 25 year old woman living in a tiny village) can affect the world.

I look down at my tattoo. A sign of teenage impulsiveness, but also a symbol of a belief that I will always hold onto as it proudly proclaims in Sanskrit, "Non-violence". Non-Violence. Gandhi believed that the world was naturally a violent place and our job was to actively reject it and choose another way. The path of peace.

For the past year, I have served as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania. I think about Obama's word when he says that it is easier to blame and see what is different in someone than to look inward into one's own self. Really, this is what Peace Corps is all about: self-reflection, finding similarities, celebrating differences. I have learned an infinite number of things since coming to Tanzania, but one of the most unexpected that I have come to start to understand is the true choice of non-violence. In Portland, Oregon, I always thought of myself as a person practicing non-violence. I surrounded myself with people of a like-mindedness. Friends and family who were liberal, spiritual but not into organized religion, vegetarian, conscientious of others and the planet, for women's rights and against war... They looked, talked and believed almost exactly like me. I love these people, but it wasn't until coming to Africa that I really realized that non-violence is a choice that comes from being surrounded with those who are different from you, being with those who disagree, and when you could lash out with hate, you choose to seek understanding.

Tanzania is a diverse country with hundreds of tribes and religious beliefs split almost equally among Christians, Muslims and traditional tribal beliefs. Now I won't try to pretend that Tanzania is some type of Utopia because it certainly is not, but I have never seen people get along so well together in the face of varying values. Everyday that Tanzania remains a peaceful country is because the citizens are choosing the route of non-violence. They are choosing to look inward and respect each other. I watch Tanzanians ask each other which tribe they are- an important part of any Africans identity, however, it never seems to make any divisions only bring people together because if they are the same tribe than they will switch from Swahili to some tribal language and compare family histories to see if they know anyone in common.

I learn the non-violence is easily practiced in a college town like Eugene, Oregon. It is an entirely different thing when you hear the haunting call to prayer and watch your host family bring out their mats and kneel to worship, their dark foreheads lowered to the ground, and instead of feeling threatened, hostile, and hateful- Tears come to your eyes because you have never seen anything so beautiful and are blessed to be in the presence of someone, no matter how different, freely and openly experiencing peace and love.

So when President Barack Obama says to the world, "All of us share this world for only a brief moment in time." I say, "Thank you, Peace Corps. Because of this experience, I know who else is in this world, and despite our differences, I see beauty and am able to react with non-violence. Now I know, peace is possible."