And his name is Barack Obama. There, I said it. The President of the United States.
To be honest, I never thought it would be the President. I was never wholeheartedly impressed by them growing up. Admiring—yep, but not moved the way I am now.
The reason why it’s Barack is because there is so much empathy between us. Here’s a guy who not only preserved his moral fabric during his meteoric rise but amplified it.
Usually it feels the other way around: you gotta sell out to get to the top. You gotta learn how to be an asshole and not feel so you don’t feel so bad when you stomp out the earnest little guys.
But not Barack, man. Barack stays true. He made me believe that there is such a thing as America to love and believe in, that honest hard work really does pay off. That the good guy does win.
I tell you, I’ve been through some harsh shit this past year. I have caused and felt a great deal of pain for the sake of progress and getting ahead in the world. Something what most of us call The American Dream.
It’s ironic because that strain of the American Dream isn’t working for me. America is not a bunch of selfish, egotistical, ruthless, greedy corporations. Well, at least not the America I envision.
Barack, you’ve put hope back into life in America. I may be at the lowest point right now, unemployed and barely skating by, broken down on a rotting toadstool of a career, but I actually believe in something good and great again.
Sometimes I like to envision myself as President one day. It guides me to answer the question: am I being as good, fair, just and strong at Barack Obama? Am I?