The Road Taken – At Last! January 24, 2009
With the spectacular inauguration ceremony earlier this week of President Barack Obama, I find myself diving backwards in time. As the world plunges headlong into an uncertain but hopeful future, I seem to have an undeniable urge to study my own version of the past.
Change is slow to come. We all know the truth of this statement. We do not need it explained to us. At the best of times, change is a bear meandering on a twisted path through the woods. It is ponderous. It is often painful. Sometimes it does not seem to be in our best interests at all. However, in the broader span of time, history tells us that change is necessary.
My friends in the sophisticated and dazzling metropolises of Toronto, New York, Montreal and Washington, to name only a handful of western population centres, like to believe that they alone are responsible for change. They might be surprised to learn that the small-town in Saskatchewan where I grew up was on board with the concept of visible leadership diversity LONG before it was fashionable to say so.
I can remember, as a very young girl, spending exhilarating hours in discussion with my friends on this very subject. We would dare to speculate, in those enthusiastic tones that can belong only to the young or the insane, how long it would take before the first black western leader would be elected, or the first female Prime Minister or President, or BOTH!
I must confess with a measure of embarrassment that we really did believe it would happen sooner, rather than later.
And now, nearly 40 after those wondrous, hopeful days of youth, here we stand. We have, briefly at least, boasted a female Prime Minister here in Canada, and Hilary Clinton posed a highly plausible potential President south of 49.
After all of the debates and all of the speeches, the music and fanfare, pomp and ceremony, AT LAST we have come to the other side of time’s gilded bridge.
We can finally say that the barriers that seemed to be so impenetrable were only self-imposed, and that they CAN be and HAVE been lifted, and that the will of the people is indeed strong.
Dear friends of mine have viewed Barack’s campaign and election with less idealistic pleasure than I have. They argue that the West needed a female leader. They harbour a sense of bitterness over the loss of Hilary in the campaign.
Of course, as a woman, I do understand that lament. For far too long, women have ridden in the back of the bus. But we were not alone back there, as I’m sure history will attest.
Personally, I didn’t really care whether the 44th President of the United States of America was a woman or a person of colour, so long as he or she was representative of those of us who have for too long been oppressed. Now that the colour barrier has been removed by Barack’s courage and determination, I DO believe that he will be followed by a female leader.
Historically speaking, this seems to me to be inevitable.
Beyond the colour of Barack’s skin, I also believe in his message. Like my more sceptical friends, I understand that he is just a man, just a human being like the rest of us. He cannot “walk on water” and he cannot single-handedly pull the world from the bed of nails it has made for itself.
However, he can, and I hope he will, remind us that we are all in this world together. As the elected leader of the most powerful nation on earth, it is imperative that this be his message.
As girls, we dreamed and spoke of an end to war, an end to discrimination in all of its forms, an end to persecution, murder, abuse of power, hunger…. You get my drift.
If ever we are to realize these dreams, even fractionally, we must start believing in the power of change. We must begin to see ourselves as the vehicles for this change, as well as the mirrors.
Rather than bemoaning how long this particular dream took to become a reality, let us instead take a moment to peer backward into our own mirrors.
Let us applaud how far we have come!
Donna Carrick, January 23, 2009
Change is slow to come. We all know the truth of this statement. We do not need it explained to us. At the best of times, change is a bear meandering on a twisted path through the woods. It is ponderous. It is often painful. Sometimes it does not seem to be in our best interests at all. However, in the broader span of time, history tells us that change is necessary.
My friends in the sophisticated and dazzling metropolises of Toronto, New York, Montreal and Washington, to name only a handful of western population centres, like to believe that they alone are responsible for change. They might be surprised to learn that the small-town in Saskatchewan where I grew up was on board with the concept of visible leadership diversity LONG before it was fashionable to say so.
I can remember, as a very young girl, spending exhilarating hours in discussion with my friends on this very subject. We would dare to speculate, in those enthusiastic tones that can belong only to the young or the insane, how long it would take before the first black western leader would be elected, or the first female Prime Minister or President, or BOTH!
I must confess with a measure of embarrassment that we really did believe it would happen sooner, rather than later.
And now, nearly 40 after those wondrous, hopeful days of youth, here we stand. We have, briefly at least, boasted a female Prime Minister here in Canada, and Hilary Clinton posed a highly plausible potential President south of 49.
After all of the debates and all of the speeches, the music and fanfare, pomp and ceremony, AT LAST we have come to the other side of time’s gilded bridge.
We can finally say that the barriers that seemed to be so impenetrable were only self-imposed, and that they CAN be and HAVE been lifted, and that the will of the people is indeed strong.
Dear friends of mine have viewed Barack’s campaign and election with less idealistic pleasure than I have. They argue that the West needed a female leader. They harbour a sense of bitterness over the loss of Hilary in the campaign.
Of course, as a woman, I do understand that lament. For far too long, women have ridden in the back of the bus. But we were not alone back there, as I’m sure history will attest.
Personally, I didn’t really care whether the 44th President of the United States of America was a woman or a person of colour, so long as he or she was representative of those of us who have for too long been oppressed. Now that the colour barrier has been removed by Barack’s courage and determination, I DO believe that he will be followed by a female leader.
Historically speaking, this seems to me to be inevitable.
Beyond the colour of Barack’s skin, I also believe in his message. Like my more sceptical friends, I understand that he is just a man, just a human being like the rest of us. He cannot “walk on water” and he cannot single-handedly pull the world from the bed of nails it has made for itself.
However, he can, and I hope he will, remind us that we are all in this world together. As the elected leader of the most powerful nation on earth, it is imperative that this be his message.
As girls, we dreamed and spoke of an end to war, an end to discrimination in all of its forms, an end to persecution, murder, abuse of power, hunger…. You get my drift.
If ever we are to realize these dreams, even fractionally, we must start believing in the power of change. We must begin to see ourselves as the vehicles for this change, as well as the mirrors.
Rather than bemoaning how long this particular dream took to become a reality, let us instead take a moment to peer backward into our own mirrors.
Let us applaud how far we have come!
Donna Carrick, January 23, 2009
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