The Promise of Power

[H2O Man]

{1}Promise

Your children are not your children,
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you,
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth. …..
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness."
--Kahlil Gibran

Yesterday there was a wonderful photo of America’s future posted on GD-P by friend "blogslut." The post/thread was titled "Beautiful," and featured a photo of a youngster with a drawing of Barack Obama. When I looked at the expression on the child’s face, I was reminded of Gibran’s poem, which is featured in the beginning of A.S. Neill’s 1960 classic, "Summerhill."

One of the most amazing parts of the 2008 democratic primary is the way that the younger generation is participating in the process. Senator Barack Obama is winning the democratic nomination in large part because of the investment of young Americans to his campaign. In my household, it’s not just the ones who are of voting age who support Obama.

This afternoon, for example, my 10-year old daughter will be baby-sitting. She and her 14-year old sister contribute to the Obama campaign. There are, of course, people who will attempt to dismiss what a 10-year old girl thinks, and attribute it to her parents’ influence. Maybe in part. But my daughter is smart enough to be among the children invited to the national "Junior Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference" in January, 2009. She has the chance to meet with John and Elizabeth Edwards, and to watch President Obama taking the oath of office. She could hold her own in debating the issues involved in the 2008 campaign with those who dismiss children.

It wasn’t that long ago that another generation of American youth were having their beliefs rejected by some of their elders, who were afraid of change. There were "adults" who wished that students in the 1960s would "behave." They thought that students should be "noted for involving themselves in panty raids, goldfish-swallowing, (and) seeing how many can get in a telephone booth." (Malcolm X; The Role of Young People; 1965) Some of the bows that Gibran spoke of had become sticks in the mud. And we have some people who’s minds are stuck in the mud and mire of the decaying republican past.

{2} Power

"One of the first things I think young people, especially nowadays, should learn is how to see for yourself and listen for yourself and think for yourself. Then you can come to an intelligent decision for yourself. If you form the habit of going by what you hear others say about someone, or going by what others think about someone, instead of searching that thing out for yourself and seeing for yourself, you will be walking west when you think you’re going east, and you’ll be walking east when you think you’re going west. This generation, especially of our people, has a burden, more so than any other time in history. The most important thing that we can learn to do today is think for ourselves.

"It’s good to keep wide-open ears and listen to what everybody else has to say, but when you come to make a decision, you have to weigh all of what you’ve heard on its own, and place it where it belongs, and come to a decision for yourself; you’ll never regret it. But if you form the habit of taking what someone else says about a thing without checking it out for yourself, you’ll find that other people will have you hating your friends and loving your enemies. This is one of the things that our people are beginning to learn today – that it is very important to think out a situation for yourself. If you don’t do it, you’ll always be maneuvered into a situation where you are never fighting your actual enemies, where you will find yourself fighting your own self. ….

"I hope you don’t think I’m trying to incite you. Just look here: Look at yourselves. Some of you are teen-agers, students. How do you think I feel – and I belong to a generation ahead of you – how do you think I feel to have to tell you, ‘We, my generation, sat around like a knot on a wall ….’ What did we do, who preceded you? I’ll tell you what we did: Nothing. And don’t make the same mistake we made….."
--Malcolm X; To Mississippi Youth; December 31, 1964

I have the privilege of being able to speak to groups of students about the social/political issues of the day. I am more impressed with the group of young people today than I have been at any other time when I’ve spoken with them in past decades. One of the things that stands out is how they are able to access so much information by way of the internet. The power of that tool has been evident since Howard Dean’s 2004 campaign, and it is playing a vital role in the Obama movement.

It is a different situation than what Malcolm was speaking of. Many people from the generation that I am proud to be part of did not sit around like a knot on a wall or a stick in the mud. We are happy to see this younger generation rejecting the bump on a log role that those who oppose the Barack Obama democratic movement are trying to apply to them.


In the past, very few people thought that the democratic party would be deciding between a black man and a woman for their party’s nomination for the highest office in the land. A year ago, very few "experts" gave Barack Obama a chance of being the nominee. State by state, we see the energy of the young Americans transforming the political landscape. I’m happy that I am here to witness it.