random thoughts for a Monday

when the united states government deemed it appropriate to designate a holiday in honor of martin luther king, jr., i don't believe they expected it to be celebrated by a full day of nba basketball. then again, no one expected us to celebrate president's day with half-off mattress sales, either...

under an unbroken blanket of cloudy sky, the hollywood hills backdrop los angeles. the signs of suburbia zoom past at 80 miles an hour while digable planets pours from the speakers. without warning - a flash of sliver fender and black rubber, a leftward jerk of the steering wheel and horns honking. moments later, the offending sedan is darting through traffic totally unaware the near calamity it caused. makes you realize how your day, week, life can be drastically changed in an instant...

it may not be a popular idea, but the so-called Collapse of Capitalism could lead to the resurrection of america. our nation was built on innovation and ingenuity. generations of america's best and brightest thought the unthinkable and pursued the unreachable. those ideals built the automobile, pioneered air travel, cured polio and put man on the moon. our intellectual endeavors led to unimaginable successes.

but with success came the spoils. we became fat and happy. we found more joy in the ends than the means. college campuses - once the centers of open discussion and enlightened thought - turned into bastions of political correctness and job training. but they were merely reflections of the era. we had created a system that eschewed philosophers for financiers. craved investors over inventors.

so we churned out a generation of stock brokers and hedge fund managers. we treated them like royalty for coin indeed was the coin of the realm. they spoke in complex and grandiose terms while manipulating a system that most people could never understand. after awhile it felt like moving pieces of paper from one side of a table to another.

now the curtain has been pulled back and the innerworkings appear to be so complicated that even the so-called "experts" are unsure how to solve it. we've been told that the solution is to take the money of the victimized and hand it over to the victimizers. distrust and discontent are growing.

and it's here where there is reason to be hopeful. oscar wilde wrote that discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation. now that the golden calf has tarnished perhaps our pursuits will return to the means and not the ends. necessity will once again give birth to invention and innovation. and the spirit of adventure and discovery that created this country will once again shine...

as this mlk day comes to a close and we prepare to inaugurate a new president, i am truly excited. proud as a black man to see one of our own take residence in the white house, but more than that, i'm excited for the entire country. then-senator obama often spoke of there not being multiple americas - not a black america or white america; not blue states or red states; just the united states. perhaps it's rhetoric to some, but it's the foundation of why we can be hopeful.

there are those who would argue that there will be no change. that this government and this country will be status quo. but i believe that change has already begun. in the last year, we saw the full promise of the democratic process. many were introduced to it for the first time. many more were re-introduced after being disillusioned. millions have been inspired with a spirit of public service and volunteerism not seen since the days wnen a young, dynamic senator from massachusetts took the oval office, created the peace corps and challenged us to literally race for the stars.

so on inauguration day and every day forward, let not the shouts of "yes we can" fade into the ether. as barack obama takes the oath of office, we as americans should likewise take those words to heart and realize that as citizens of our country we have a duty to help it not only endure, but prosper. we have already demanded much from our president, but now it is time to demand more of the rest of our elected officials and perhaps more importantly, of ourselves. if we succeed in that, we will truly have change.