During the last moments of Barack's Inauguration yesterday, I picked up one of the flags that had been given out and dusted it off. This was a powerful symbol for how I feel about these amazing times. I feel like we have a tremendous opportunity to take Barack's challenge and dust ourselves and this nation off--wiping away years of hopelessness and bad policy. I am excited to wipe away exploitive foreign aid and trade policies that have helped create the global poverty crisis. And I am thrilled that Obama made poverty a priority in his Inauguration speech!
As you can see in the video, Barack cares about global poverty: "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 the 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." I love that! (full speech at Chicago Tribune)
I am very excited to embrace the changes Barack is proposing that will result in a better country and a better world. I am also ready to continue to do my part, responding to his call for responsibility and service. I am ready to be more aware of the suffering outside our borders, ready to work toward ending that suffering, ready to change!
It is a good time to be alive.
-Stephen Donahoe
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