Yes we can

I am not an emotional person.
But watching the swearing in of Obama and then hearing his speech afterwards, that resembled more of a call to arms, I teared up.
We had a hard time with the internet feed so me and five of our volunteers headed down to the YouthBuild floor because we heard they had some big screens hooked up. Alas! So we sneaked in and sat on the floor sorrdounded by about 100 hard-working youth and staff. I read this in the paper today..."it would be the kind of experience that he inspired throughout the election to just stand there, with a bunch of people that don’t share your background, that you have nothing in common with, watching this thing happen." Youth Build is a program that allows youth who have dropped out of high school to obtain there high school diploma. All of the students also do community service, building homes for low-income families, and are considered AmeriCorp members. Here we were, college grads and college students who in many circumstances would have no other opportunity to interact or even feel like there was much we had in common with these students, sharing this experience. Sharing a hope.
That was that moment. I can't even find the words but I believed change was possible. It was refreshing and inspiring and I believed that changed was possible. I believe its possible because it begins with me and you and all of us. We have to take responsibility for the world we want to create, and for the world we hope to give to our children. We have to believe that great things are possible. In a world of loss and segregation and despair and poverty and all other ills, believing has more power than we allow ourselves to see.
But in the end, we have to get up and so something and say something , fight for something and not settle for anything less.
As I work to assemble our volunteers and prepare our office for the work we are going to do, I have a renewed hope that we can overcome this world and that we can change things. I believe it cause we are...

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness. Barack Obama.

Desire by Ryan Adams
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqGqIWEAnq4&feature=related (crappy version of an awesome song)