Obama Chapter

Filler Chapter
(The following is a rewriting of a section of the book, in which Obama describes ordinary people and their struggles, pgs. 41-42)

I spent a lot of time in my life dealing with the differences of people, whether it is a party affiliation or a race, gender, and even the inescapable position of class. It does not matter if you are the smartest or most talented person there is a place for everybody, white and black, poor and rich, male or female. There is a popular inscription on the statue of liberty that states: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”. Shouldn’t that be the most upheld belief in our common day society? It is despicable that we still have to struggle to over come these adversities and find our own personal happiness whether it is through work or charity.
There are still critics out there who doubt the ability to escape these hardships and maybe they are right. There maybe an everlasting war that continues to divide our nation one of class and distinction. Deep down however there are groups of people who overcome all this negative criticism and learn to grow in the midst of all the social and political turmoil that shapes us and our beliefs. The political system in this country has turned into a game, a sport if you will. We can stand by and paint our faces and cheer for our favorite politicians or laws and kick ourselves when they don’t go through or don’t score. The world is filled with cheap shots that put us back years and slow the progress of success. If we let theses ideals be self-evident then we will never find a way to get over the bumps that stand in our way.
These people are ordinary citizens the people who accept these undesirable qualities about our government at face value and fight. They are not only fighting the political factions that bog them down, but also the “culture war” that influences the world around them. The celebrities that are activists and the people they encourage make them better people, but also can mislead them into doing the wrong thing. When all is said and done, however, these warriors find a way to come together and create a harmony of peace and acceptance.
The memories from our childhood and our lessons we learn from them shape our futures forever. One may think of a white southerner growing up during segregation, then later realizing the ethical inaccuracies of name calling and making friends with the African-Americans at the office. There is another struggle in the world, the gap of poverty and wealth that enables our citizens to get by. There are employees in all companies in the U.S. that make people panic and wonder that in the greatest country on Earth if they will be able to feed their family and live for another year. I imagine these people are waiting as much as anybody to have all the turmoil and chaos presented in Washington to resolve itself. They want politicians to balance common sense with idealist views and make it work for everybody. We can’t accomplish this by ourselves we have to get together and work together to make America better. These ordinary people do not always understand the meaning of left and right, conservative and liberal, but they know better to distinguish between common sense and dogma. They are waiting for the Republicans and Democrats to reach the finish line to meet them, seemingly for the first time.