DIARY - When Jesus came to play
Date: 2009-01-21 17:36:53
Author: Pat Kent
The title isn't meant to be offensive to anybody, I seem to have achieved that with all too much regularity of late, least of all is it intended to be offensive to Jesus, should he exist or have existed, or his followers; it's more a piece about hope and optimism and a wish that things will change and how too easy it is for many people to get too caught up in the "new messiah" business.
Yesterday saw the inaugaration of the 44th President of the United States; probably the most powerful man in the free world if not the whole world; a President who may just possibly also be the greatest hope that this planet has for the future.
I believe that he is a person of committment and of an integrity far greater than the man who went before him and the man who went before him and so on. But, he is also a politician, and whilst I have a great love for politics, there are few in that field with the full power of a nation behind them that I truly believe in. At the moment Obama is one of those few. Watching the proceedings yesterday the most striking thing I saw was the hope and anticipation in the faces of so many people around the globe.
My hope is that people have patience with him and give him the time to get to grips with things both in the US and globally, he isn't Jesus and real human miracles come few and far between in these days of media and celebrity driven greed and personal uncertainty. I hope that everyone can bring themselves to remember that whilst he maybe considered by many to be 100% African-American, he is not 100% black and that he is there to represent ALL. Please don't burden him with spearheading just one cause, because if that happens, he will fail. he will fail the black activists for not giving his all to them and he will fail the rest for losing sight of their needs.
The problem he faces is being all things to all men and making sure they are all happy equally while feeling that they have more of him than anyone else. Sounds familar?
In 50 odd years I have only ever experienced this level of national or global euphoria and hope about a single human being on a few ocassions.
I was seven when John F Kennedy was assassinated, but I really do remember it being broadcast on TV and my Mum crying because he was such a good man. A man she never met and who lived several thousands of miles away. I think she was crying for a lost hope, a hope that the world needed at that time of "cold war" threats.
Personally, I experienced it when Tony Blair and "New" labour drove out the Tories after 23 years of destroying everything I loved about my country.
Never have I witnessed it on a global scale as an adult. not even the release of Mandela or the changes in previous Presidents, Prime Ministers and Popes. Yesterday was truly a feeling of a global hope, borne out a global desparation. It was a good well aimed speech, it provided succour for many, it provided hope.
Ironically, I listened, by chance, to America [2nd amendment] by The Nice yesterday as it popped up on shuffle on my i-Pod. Those that know it will know it was recorded as a protest song, and whilst it is predominantly an instrumental it has one spoken line in it as a child says: "America is pregnant with promises and anticipation, but was murdered by the hand of the inevitable". The whole world seems pregnant with promises and anticipation, and as I said above I hope President Obama is given time to do what he needs to do and that he is not hounded by the "inevitable" hand of the press and the media who will no doubt get on his back as soon as the "honeymoon" period is over.
A new world?....optimism and hope should win out, if they are given space to breathe.
all the best
Pat K
© Pat Kent 2009 – All rights reserved. Pat Kent exercises his right to be identified as the author 2009