Political Darkness

politics doesn't interest me very much but i love this barrack obama video i discovered on seobook last month.

Yes we can lyrics:



It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation: Yes, we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail towards freedom through the darkest of nights: Yes, we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness: Yes, we can.

It was the call of workers who organized, women who reached for the ballot, a president who chose the moon as our new frontier, and a king who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the promised land: Yes, we can, to justice and equality.

Yes, we can. Yes, we can, to opportunity and prosperity. Yes, we can, to opportunity and prosperity. Yes, we can heal this nation. Yes, we can repair this world. Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we can.

We know the battle ahead will be long. But always remember that, no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics. And they will only grow louder and more dissonant in the weeks and months to come.

We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope. But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

That the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA. We will remember that there is something happening in America: that we are not as divided as our politics suggests, that we are one people, we are one nation, and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story, with three words that will ring from coast to coast, from sea to shining sea: Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we can.



i must have watched it 20 times or more. i find it uplifting, just that repeated mantra. even more interesting are the comments, so many people use the word "inspiring." these are cynical times and people need someone to believe in. politicians tend not to be the sort of people to believe in or even believe half the time. usually they are terribly untrustworthy bunch (only beaten by web gurus), who would swap their own grandmother for a promotion, but obama seems better than the rest. maybe his pr dept is better than the rest (the cynic in me talking), but the speech this song was taken from was one of the best i've ever heard.

maybe it's the combination of the music and the edited words, a great speech, the refreshing new concept of a politician being positive rather than being negative about their opponent. maybe the art of politics has, in this instance, become something more pure: art. i don't know, but it's good and seems to touch people deep down. i'll end with this particularly moving comment (of the 62,202 and counting) from nygrandma:

I'm a 53 yo upstate NY woman who intentionally changed my party membership from Republican to Democrat for the ONLY reason so I can vote for Obama on Super Tuesday.
Not since I remember being a child during the Kennedy years (both Jack and Bobby), have I seen and felt such a profound emotion towards a politician.
This man DESERVES our support. This man DESERVES to be our next President.
YES WE CAN! YES HE CAN!

About Me(me)

Summer has tagged me and i have to give you some titbits of info about me. here goes:


What was I doing 10 years ago?
... in 1998 i was 22 and nearing the end of a 4 year degree course in fine art. it was in dundee and i specialised in oil painting

Things On My To Do list
... get a "to do list" :)
... get healthier
... see a specialist
... float more
... swim more
... spend more time being creative
... make a living by doing creative things
... buy batteries
... get my brother to move a couch

Bad Habits
... procrastination
... no definite pattern to my life
... being lackadaisical, or so i have been accused of. probably related to procrastination.

Places I have Lived
... glasgow, renfrew, erskine, paisley

Things Most People Don’t Know About Me
... i look normal (fairly) but i hurt (joints are crap)
... partially blind in left eye
... i wanted to be spider-man when i grew up. older and wiser, i realise how silly this idea was. i now want to be batman




time to tag some others: Stephanie, Tim and Lever.

Perpetual Light

i was at a funeral on saturday. another of my uncles died last week. his name was Michael. i didn't know him very well as he had separated from my aunt a long time ago. he had isolated himself from people he knew over the course of his life. by all accounts he was difficult to live with, but towards the end of his life, and his battle with cancer, in the final few weeks he made his peace with his family.

it was a strange kind of funeral, it didn't feel as sad as they usually do. strange because the priest at the funeral was my cousin, the dead man's own son. he was very professional, and there seemed to be an air of joy. i'm not sure if joy is the right word, maybe it was a general happiness that his suffering was over. it was also a time for the clan to meet up. cousins i had not seen for a while were there, some with kids that are growing up what seems incredibly fast. time passes, people are busy, and often it's only occasion like weddings and funerals that we meet up.

one side of the family are quite religious, they do have a priest after all. one of the other brothers we all thought might go into the priesthood, eventually got into politics and works behind the scenes at the scottish parliament. it was the wilder one who funnily became the priest. i wonder if it's that certainty of seeing people again in heaven that makes funerals less sad for believers. i don't have the same beliefs or the same certainty. this might be it, all there is. who knows?

but one of the prayers that my cousin said struck a chord:

eternal rest grant unto them, o lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. may they rest in peace. amen

perpetual light. aren't those two words beautiful together? being brought up a catholic, the prayer wasn't unfamiliar, but i'd never really thought about it before. that's the problem learning things by rote, repetition doesn't always get you to think about what you are saying. perpetual light would need infinite energy. i like the sound of that too. infinite energy, say it out loud, hear the words in your head. i lean more towards fuzzy reincarnation-jedi-lion-king ideas about the afterlife.

what do you think? what happens when we go. do you think there will perpetual light, or are we snuffed out like a candle?

rest in peace, Michael. wherever you are.