jody fransch

America has decided! Barack Obama wrote a new chapter into US history by becoming the first African-American elected president, capping a stunning rise to the White House and more importantly the Oval Office. With tenacious energy and verve, he took on the political establishment, defeating former first lady Hillary Clinton in the party primaries, overturned the perception that America was not ready to vote for a black president, and crushed the weight of the Republican attack machine. It was only four short years ago, that Obama was just a little-known charismatic Chicago politician with a big smile, who stunned the 2004 Democratic convention with a dazzling speech.

“There is not a black America, and white America and Latino America and Asian America – there’s the United States of America,” he proclaimed then.

It was a message he has used to ignite a new passion and excitement in a country angered by the economic crisis which has dragged down the world’s top economy and disgusted by the Iraq war.

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I was asked to speak to the students at the weekly assembly of a high school next week and not sure what to talk about. I then remembered a really inspiring sermon I heard from my dad (he is a pastor) a couple of years back. It was called “The Parable of the Pencil”. It is a common story but really inspiring and I think it will go down well with the kids as they are at that stage where they are finding themselves and are at a very impressionable age.

Here is a video which basically summarizes what I am going to talk about.