By Ernie McCray

Obama first sold young people
on “Change we can Believe In”
and now Bernie
has them thinking along those lines again
in deeper ways
and I love watching their faces
at his rallies when he says to them
“Change comes from the bottom to the top.”
Their faces light up
as he teaches them how
they might best proceed
as they strive to meet
their world’s desperate needs.
One can see the potential for hope
in their eyes
the more they come to realize
that his message is true,
that what he talks
he’s walked
and is still walking,
step by step,
day after day after day,
illustrating how one lives
a truly “progressive” life.
He’s got them
raring to go
and wishing
that we older folks
would join them
in making America
live up to its constitutional promises –
but we
rattle on about
how he’s not realistic
and we ask
“What has he accomplished?”
and we say he’s sexist
and downright feckless
and uncontrollably reckless
as though a senator
couldn’t possibly have any political skills
that a president could use.
But if we gave the man his due
we’d come to the view
that he’s already
changed the conversation,
and that’s what this world needs now,
reflection:
looking at concepts like socialism, and the like,
with new enlightened eyes;
analyzing how the greedy among the super-rich,
like the oligarchs they are,
chip away at the quality of our lives;
giving us a chance, if we’re wise,
to take a big step
towards the making of a new way of life,
a step way more to the left of what we’ve called the left,
a step in step
with our nation’s young human beings
who are coming to understand
that it’s their world to change
and they’re more than ready to do it
“from the bottom to the top.”
What a gift to us
from a man who has toiled for us
to be at this place,
at this time,
since way back when,
a man who has shined
a brilliant light
on a path he’s set us on,
a path taking us closer to a
“Change we can Believe In.”
I absolutely love the man.

Photo courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/silince/3040901870/sizes/o/

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Ernie McCray

I was raised in a loving and alive home, in a black neighborhood filled with colorful characters in Tucson, Arizona. Such an environment gave me a hint that life has to be grabbed by the tail as tight as a pimple on a mosquito's butt. With no BS and a whole lot of love. So, from those days to now I get up every morning set on making the world a better place. On my good foot*, and I hope my writing reflects that. *an old black expression

Latest posts by Ernie McCray (see all)

• Should Democrats, like Superman, Seek ‘Truth, Justice and the American Way’? - December 10, 2018
• Saying Goodbye to a Friend Who Gave Me a Helping Hand - November 28, 2018
• An Awakening - November 21, 2018