Our government is about to change hands, and there’s a website called change.gov that speaks to everyday citizens like us (also see the change.gov blog). I took a look and it really feels like the grass-roots, personal involvement that I would expect from Obama. There is a section where you can inquire about getting a job in the Obama-Biden administration — doesn’t that sound exciting!
I’m inspired by this if not slightly overwhelmed by the sheer odds of someone like me being picked to do something like work for and with Obama. What I mean to say is that I’m all the way in Hawaii, I’ve got a wife and four kids to take care of on top of a hefty mortgage and I’m in a boatload of debt. Life as we know it these days is nothing but piled-up stress and mounting expenses — all while trying to keep a good face for the children.
But at the same time, I find my intent so pure and my ideals so strong that it’s very hard for me to settle with what many could describe as a good, happy life. I mean isn’t the default plan for the average American to go to school, get a job, get married, buy a house, start a family and settle down? I’ve got those things and let me tell you I’m nothing but grateful for getting this far.
I keep thinking that if Obama can do it, and somehow I’ve gotten this far, what’s to stop me from also striving to my highest potential? Should I let the pressure and the discomfort of working so hard just to stay afloat limit a more meaningful future?
Again — I could not be anymore grateful to have a beautiful wife and four children and a nice house in Hawaii of all places. Yet I know in my heart and in my thoughts that there’s something more than this. I look around at the people I know and they appear to be satisfied and happy with their comfortable lives. Maybe because I’m not so comfortable is why I can’t settle for mediocrity.
So even if I don’t get an “Obama” job, which I’m totally not expecting to anyway (I don’t know the right people and they don’t know me), I do intend on doing something very significant as I raise my young family.
In fact I know there are other people out there, perhaps with a family and a bloated mortgage and little hope for the financial future, who are coping with the same depressing struggles I am. It’s you people I look forward to meeting one day as we perpetuate the greatness of this nation and its people. Aloha.
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