Personal Responsibility & Choice = Freedom

Yes I have to blog about the historic inauguration of Barack Obama - the 44th President of the United States of America. Where were you during his acceptance speech? Please comment and share your experience of it. Mine was rooted in the personal responsibility I own of doing my part - to be the change I want to see and leave for my children. I was watching the inauguration with a few hundred Microsoft employees at our conference center. There was a cardboard cut-out of President Obama - and yes I had a friend take a picture of me hugging him at the shoulder. For now, I want to share this quote by Will Smith that I found very balanced and I interpret as tied with my theme for this era - personal responsibility. The only person that stops me from my "gold" is myself. Right on Will! Also click on his picture to hear him talk about the potential of him playing Obama in a movie some day. Will Smith For me, it was something that I've always believed. I've read the Declaration of Independence. I've read the Constitution. I have the preamble memorized. It's something I've always believed in, and when Barack Obama won, it validated a piece of me that I wasn't allowed to say out loud - that America is not a racist nation. I love that all of our excuses have been removed. African-American excuses have been removed. There's no white man trying to keep you down, because if he were really trying to keep you down, he would have done everything he could to keep Obama down. Yes, there are racist people who live here, absolutely. But they're not the majority anymore. I'm an African American, and I was able to climb to a certain point in Hollywood. On that journey, I realized people weren't trying to stop me. Most people were trying to help me. Before Obama won the presidency, it was like, I'm the exception. Tiger is the exception. Michael Jordan is the exception. Bill Cosby is the exception. But there's something about being the leader of the free world, with every other position on earth below that. You can't argue with that. If Barack Obama can win the presidency of the United States, you can absolutely be the manager at Saks. Come on. It was such a fantastic experience for me to be able to say out loud that I love America and not be called an Uncle Tom. That I can stand out, and I can say out loud that I love this country and not get funny looks. I don't think we are African Americans, Irish Americans or Japanese Americans anymore. I think Americans are a new race of people. We are Americans of African descent. We are Americans of Irish descent. It's a whole new world. (and it's up to me and you and us to be the change we seek)