“Speak you mind, even if your voice shakes” (author unknown) were the words I saw on the bumper sticker of the car in front of me on the way to an appointment one weekday afternoon. I was going to a therapy appointment wherein I was divuldging my intermost secrets of my childhood and depressing marriage. As I entered the parking lot, I could not forget the simple quote of the bumper sticker I had just read. I met with my therapist; I yelled and screamed, I sobbed. This was the beginning of hope for me. A life-long burden of guilt from a horrible childhood turned to survivalism and a path of deserving from despair arose. Thus the beginning of a new life for me – in a moment – from a bumper sticker, I arose from the ashes of my life – HOPE!! Hope became a reality, hope became my mantra, hope turned into a new way of thinking and believing in myself and others. Without hope, I would not have left my miserable husband; without hope I would not have ripped off the cloak of negativity laid upon me by my tyranical father. Without hope, I would not have believed enough in myself to pursue my dream of becoming a college graduate; now standing proud with a double major in business. Without hope, I would not hold my head high and confidently face each morning with enthusiasm and excitement. Without hope there is no will to dream; without adversity, there is no reason to fight for the dream. The fight in me was strong enough to stand tall and look dead into the eye of my own adversity. God never gives us more than we can handle, He tests us often towards our own growth and strength; how strong are you? Some of us are called to lead, others of us are called to support those leaders. Either situation posses the questions; which are you, and what are you going to do? Will you rise above all that life has laid in your path to overcome, or are you going to hide behind the negative pre-programming someone else has stated your life should be? Will you be brave enough to speak out, or will you quietly go on in silent suffering?

Yes I can must come before yes we can!! We must as individuals believe in ourselves, believe in the one small, muffled voice, belive that without this voice trying to be heard amongst many that those around us will then begin to believe – yes I can, yes we can. Without the belief of self there can be no belief of we – we as a family, we as a community, we as a nation. Obama has bravely reached beyond his one voice, the voices of his family, and stretched out with the belief that “we the people” can thrive. If I can, as one small voice, overcome the adversities of my own life, and then carry forward my hope for a brighter future, than so can you!

Obama may not become our next president; however, he has been strong enough in character to attemp to positively affect change within our society, to encourage hope, to encouraging dreams – to promote life – THRIVE! Such changes occur from within, and often times, occur in direct opposition to what others have attempted to instill in us.

When I hear Obama speak, it is difficult to not hear Martin Luther King saying “I have a dream.” What is your dream, what are you hopes, and what are YOU willing to do to become all it is within you to become?!

Step outside your comfort zone and thrive!!

I choose to thrive, to dream and to hope!

Thanks for sharing Tobi!!

Julie Heinz

Experience isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. We both know lots of people who claim seven years of experience when in fact what they have is one year of experience seven times. Barack seems better able than most to learn from his experiences, which increases their value explosively.

He got my vote. My first two choices — Dennis Kucinich and John Edwards — dropped out. I hope Obama picks up some of the Edwards message but I *really* hope he picks up on some of Kucinich’s thoughts. I really loved his comment in the LA debate that he didn’t just want to end the war in Iraq, he wants to end the beliefs that get us into war.