He is the president now. It is an unbelievable dream come true for African-Americans and all who have followed and participated in our struggle. President Obama’s win is another part of the fulfillment of many parts of what America must become to live up to the true meaning of its creed.
Several weeks ago a Turkish blogger talked about how he did not see so much importance in an Obama won. Maybe he would have if a person of Turkish descent had won, but that is how so much of humanity is: blind or self-absorbed. Barack Obama is human, and I do not expect a golden age to begin, but I truly believe that our new American president is a genuinely good and descent person. He is a throw back to a more genteel and saner time when people had principles, when the majority who believed in what is right said, “Enough is enough.” Some of them did not allow the wolves to continue to run wild among us and tear everyone apart. Beloved Dr. King was one of them in my country’s and world history.
I am sure Obama cut his teeth on Dr. King’s beliefs like I did. His beliefs were in the equality of all people and in service and sacrifice. Because of a belief in service and sacrifice, I am living under poorer, chaotic, and difficult circumstances in Turkey. I wanted to help others in their educational walk, and I wanted to be there for my boyfriend who needs to know that everyone is not out to drain him dry. It has been and continues to be an extremely trying three months this time around in Turkey.
I finally got a chance to look at the inauguration last night, and I was sorrowful because I missed the full emotion of a great point in history by not being stateside. Being here in Turkey kept me out of the thick of the emotion. I would not have gone to Washington, D.C. and seen the ceremonies live, but I missed out on sitting with my family and experiencing their words and their emotions. I will always feel sad about this this. Never in their wildest dreams did my parents believe that they would live to see an African-American receive the most powerful, prestigious, and difficult political position in the world. My father is 69 and my mother is 70. They were born into segregation in the South. As little children they accepted as normal that blacks were second class citizens. That they lived and did not die before such a day as last Tuesday is, well…
I love my country’s new president. My boyfriend told me on the day that Obama was elected that he loves him too. I go to shops and other places here in Turkey and when some learn that I am American they shout “Obama!” with either a thumbs up or with a lifted fist reminiscent of the old militant “Black Power” symbol.
Some Americans who now claim to love Barack Obama are frauds who months ago either said he was not “black enough” to have any appeal for “true black people” because of his elegant and patrician manner. Many said he was too young and inexperienced. He is older than John F. Kennedy was when he was elected, so why this argument? Others stated all kinds of illogical, tasteless, vicious, and lame arguments. How fickle humanity can be. Now some of the same ones have jumped on the Obama bandwagon.
How fickle and untrustworthy humanity can be. I have really seen this in the last three months here and even shortly before I came. I am sure that Obama is not naïve. I hope he is only idealistic in his principles because in the end, the two or three people who let you down will cause you to have a great distaste and distrust for all humanity if you are not careful.
I think by the time his time as president is up, Obama will probably want to be a recluse and only write more books. I feel that way often now. Last week I started to close my Facebook account though people, especially my students, keep adding me. It just does not have any meaning for me anymore. So much that post modern humanity expends its energy and blood on is just plain trivial. President Obama at the end of four or eight years will probably feel it is just all a waste of time. I feel the same way about my blogs and my teaching.
What are my blogs really, and what is their purpose? Yesterday I asked a British colleague if he thought that Anne Frank’s and Che Guevara’s writings would be half as good as they are if they had been bloggers. He said that he doubted it. I have been debating about keeping my blogs going for several months now even since early last year. I do not have time to continue with them on a regular basis. I do not always have regular internet access. I do not have time to cruise and comment on other people’s blogs to help in driving traffic to mine. I started to really ponder the importance of blogging early last year when my Facebook friend and author Karen Tintori wrote to me and said that if I wanted to be a serious writer to stay away from blogs. Twice she has invited me to readings of one of her books in Michigan and New York. I would like to someday eventually meet her in person. Yesterday when my colleague said that bloggers are not real writers, I pondered his opinion as well. Of course, there are established writers who blog. Paulo Coelho is world famous, and his blog is listed on my blog roll. He also added me to his friend’s list on Blog Catalog last year. Blogging was also first the arena of journalists. I am not an established writer. I have no big interest in journalism anymore since like so much in our times it has been trivialized or have become just plain vulgar. Therefore, where will I go and what will I do?
I am going to stop blogging because of a number of reasons, the chief of which is time and energy. If I can ever get settled here or if I go back to my country at the end of my contract, I want to be a serious writer. For myself, I plan to go back to the traditional way, the diary. I am not interested in seeking an online audience anymore. I want privacy and quiet in my life on as many levels as I can get it. If Greta Garbo did not say, “I want to be alone,” she should have. I think I can understand why she vacated the film industry because the insanity will kill you. Who knows? Maybe President Obama will vacate before his term is up and say, “I am tired. Sometimes it gets to a point where the madness just not worth it anymore.” I hope he continues to be tough, but I do not want him to end up worn out and destroyed because people can certainly do it to you.
My blog journey is over. I have not decided yet whether to delete my blog or to just leave it in hanging in cyberspace. I have copies of all of my posts, so whether to delete or not to delete is not a big question for me.
Good-bye and good luck.
Several weeks ago a Turkish blogger talked about how he did not see so much importance in an Obama won. Maybe he would have if a person of Turkish descent had won, but that is how so much of humanity is: blind or self-absorbed. Barack Obama is human, and I do not expect a golden age to begin, but I truly believe that our new American president is a genuinely good and descent person. He is a throw back to a more genteel and saner time when people had principles, when the majority who believed in what is right said, “Enough is enough.” Some of them did not allow the wolves to continue to run wild among us and tear everyone apart. Beloved Dr. King was one of them in my country’s and world history.
I am sure Obama cut his teeth on Dr. King’s beliefs like I did. His beliefs were in the equality of all people and in service and sacrifice. Because of a belief in service and sacrifice, I am living under poorer, chaotic, and difficult circumstances in Turkey. I wanted to help others in their educational walk, and I wanted to be there for my boyfriend who needs to know that everyone is not out to drain him dry. It has been and continues to be an extremely trying three months this time around in Turkey.
I finally got a chance to look at the inauguration last night, and I was sorrowful because I missed the full emotion of a great point in history by not being stateside. Being here in Turkey kept me out of the thick of the emotion. I would not have gone to Washington, D.C. and seen the ceremonies live, but I missed out on sitting with my family and experiencing their words and their emotions. I will always feel sad about this this. Never in their wildest dreams did my parents believe that they would live to see an African-American receive the most powerful, prestigious, and difficult political position in the world. My father is 69 and my mother is 70. They were born into segregation in the South. As little children they accepted as normal that blacks were second class citizens. That they lived and did not die before such a day as last Tuesday is, well…
I love my country’s new president. My boyfriend told me on the day that Obama was elected that he loves him too. I go to shops and other places here in Turkey and when some learn that I am American they shout “Obama!” with either a thumbs up or with a lifted fist reminiscent of the old militant “Black Power” symbol.
Some Americans who now claim to love Barack Obama are frauds who months ago either said he was not “black enough” to have any appeal for “true black people” because of his elegant and patrician manner. Many said he was too young and inexperienced. He is older than John F. Kennedy was when he was elected, so why this argument? Others stated all kinds of illogical, tasteless, vicious, and lame arguments. How fickle humanity can be. Now some of the same ones have jumped on the Obama bandwagon.
How fickle and untrustworthy humanity can be. I have really seen this in the last three months here and even shortly before I came. I am sure that Obama is not naïve. I hope he is only idealistic in his principles because in the end, the two or three people who let you down will cause you to have a great distaste and distrust for all humanity if you are not careful.
I think by the time his time as president is up, Obama will probably want to be a recluse and only write more books. I feel that way often now. Last week I started to close my Facebook account though people, especially my students, keep adding me. It just does not have any meaning for me anymore. So much that post modern humanity expends its energy and blood on is just plain trivial. President Obama at the end of four or eight years will probably feel it is just all a waste of time. I feel the same way about my blogs and my teaching.
What are my blogs really, and what is their purpose? Yesterday I asked a British colleague if he thought that Anne Frank’s and Che Guevara’s writings would be half as good as they are if they had been bloggers. He said that he doubted it. I have been debating about keeping my blogs going for several months now even since early last year. I do not have time to continue with them on a regular basis. I do not always have regular internet access. I do not have time to cruise and comment on other people’s blogs to help in driving traffic to mine. I started to really ponder the importance of blogging early last year when my Facebook friend and author Karen Tintori wrote to me and said that if I wanted to be a serious writer to stay away from blogs. Twice she has invited me to readings of one of her books in Michigan and New York. I would like to someday eventually meet her in person. Yesterday when my colleague said that bloggers are not real writers, I pondered his opinion as well. Of course, there are established writers who blog. Paulo Coelho is world famous, and his blog is listed on my blog roll. He also added me to his friend’s list on Blog Catalog last year. Blogging was also first the arena of journalists. I am not an established writer. I have no big interest in journalism anymore since like so much in our times it has been trivialized or have become just plain vulgar. Therefore, where will I go and what will I do?
I am going to stop blogging because of a number of reasons, the chief of which is time and energy. If I can ever get settled here or if I go back to my country at the end of my contract, I want to be a serious writer. For myself, I plan to go back to the traditional way, the diary. I am not interested in seeking an online audience anymore. I want privacy and quiet in my life on as many levels as I can get it. If Greta Garbo did not say, “I want to be alone,” she should have. I think I can understand why she vacated the film industry because the insanity will kill you. Who knows? Maybe President Obama will vacate before his term is up and say, “I am tired. Sometimes it gets to a point where the madness just not worth it anymore.” I hope he continues to be tough, but I do not want him to end up worn out and destroyed because people can certainly do it to you.
My blog journey is over. I have not decided yet whether to delete my blog or to just leave it in hanging in cyberspace. I have copies of all of my posts, so whether to delete or not to delete is not a big question for me.
Good-bye and good luck.
3 comments:
Even though your blog is fairly new to me, I'll miss it, but I understand your decision. You have a lot to offer the world, and only you can decide the best way to do that. My very best wishes to you.
Cinderella,
Thanks so much for commenting.
The thrill of blogging is just gone. When something just doesn't mean anything to a person anymore, why continue? I feel that I have more to offer as a writer than being a blogger. I want to venture into new areas, and I also want more privacy. I have gotten enough positive responses to my writing over the years both here and elsewhere to see that I should move on to other realms in writing.
Thanks again.
I'll miss you if you stop writing. I know what you mean about blogging being insignificant in some ways, but I don't think that it was insignificant meeting you online. What I try to do is introduce people to new topics and areas of interest, such as areas of nature they haven't explored. This is almost best done in cyberspace, where it is accessible to a lot more people. I just spent almost a month in Australia and New Zealand,where I never checked my blog or blogged anything, and I have to say that I didn't miss it. Yet, I also knew that I would write about the interesting animals and show the photos of many fascinating parts of the world, and I did look forward to that. That is what blogging, as online publishing, does. It brings the world to people. But I also want something more permanent. I hope you do come back online from time to time. I would love to know more about Turkey and how you're doing.
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