Everything starts with a plan;
we move one step at a time.
We see the goal, we tread the lane;
When we endure, the goal we gain.
But plans can die and plans can change;
When we move beyond the initial stage
and adapt to every opportunity we can,
we gain the goal of a better plan.
One of the goals I wrote in my lifeplan last year during a leadership training in the office is to publish my own book by the time I reach 40. That's two years to go.
My daughter, Marthe, however, beat me to it. She participated in a bookmaking workshop with Adarna House and Filipinas Heritage Library this summer and has come up with her very first book, created and illustrated by her. The front and back covers were printed by Adarna, and the inside pages were actual illustrations and text written on bookpaper. It was cool stuff for a 6-year-old kid.
Close to 20 kids participated in the workshop, ranging from 6 to 11 yrs old. Marthe was one of the two youngest participants. Yesterday was the last session and graduation of the group.
Marthe was very happy to hold her finished book. She was the first one called to read her story aloud to the class. For the first time, my daughter didn't look at me before standing and didn't wait for prodding. She proudly took her book and went in front. For a few seconds, I was hopeful that she has finally shed off her shyness.
But then she opened the book in front of her and we couldn't see her face anymore. It was almost one minute before I realized that she was already reading the story that only she and the teacher can hear. Some of her classmates looked at me. I told her across the room, "Louder, baby. We can't hear!" But she kept on reading, oblivious to anything else. Halfway through, her voice became a little louder but we could still only hear snippets.
Finally, the story ended and nobody knew what it was all about -- except for me, who helped her color some of the drawings at home. The class didn't care. They just clapped. Several other kids were called to read their stories and about 4 of them were just like Marthe. They had soft voices only they could hear.
But everyone was happy to see his/her 'publication'. They were talented children; their stories were incredible and very creative. I looked around the room and observed each child. I thought, "Today I'm looking at the writers, illustrators, publishers and graphic artists of the future."
It reminded me of my own goal at 40. I'm way behind. :)
My friend Jason has been scolding me these past days for not updating my blog. I'm guilty! Been busy, been lazy. Hehe. For his sake, I'm gonna spend time in the computer today, writing something he can read. (Are you happy now, Jase?) ;-)
Before the end of this week, I need to come up with a Personal Action Plan. It's my fourth and last assignment in this short course I took in UPOU called Personal Entrepreneurial Development. We spent the last three parts of the course studying about personal entrepreneurial competencies, characteristics of a person that makes them a good entrepreneur. Now that we're done, our assignment is to come up with a short-term and long-term plan for our life and long- and short-term goals for each role we have. We need to give it a lot of thought before we can make the plan, our professor said.
Since I've undergone a modified version of this exercise during a leadership training in my office last year, I can just rehash what I've written in the vision-mission part of it and add the details of my plans. Should be easier to do, I hope. Deadline for the assignment is saturday next week.
I'm still considering if I should go to the UPOU campus on saturday for the last face-to-face session. I don't know if there's anyone else I can go with among my classmates. We'll see. Meanwhile, my personal action plan is to finish my plan and start it rolling.
It’s been more than a month since I last posted and much has happened. I finally got into Personal Entrepreneurial Development at the start of February. It’s a non-formal, distance learning course, in the UP Open University. It will run until June. It’s been occupying my weekend afternoons and some of my workday nights, when I’m not busy with Marthe, but it’s providing the adrenalin rush I’ve been missing in my current job. I used to have it everyday as a reporter covering the travel & tourism, lifestyle and IT beats.
The course included four face-to-face sessions each month from February to May. I met my classmates for the first time on Feb 28 at the UPOU Learning Center in Diliman. As usual, I arrived last, after going through MRT and waiting for like 30 minutes in the UP Campus jeep queue in Quezon Avenue (which I later abandoned and rode a Fairview-bound jeep instead, which will take me to Philcoa), and getting lost. The cab driver and I missed the National Computer Center, as the building name was behind an overgrown bush. The learning center was inside NCC.
I actually didn’t know what to expect of the session, but it turned out to be a consulting period. The teacher, Angela Cielo, summarized what we’ve read in our thick study material and emphasized the importance of each module. Then she opened the floor (or should I say the table, as we were just 10 seated around a long table) to questions that may or may not be related to the modules we’ve just discussed.
When the questions were answered, she proceeded to ask each of us to talk a little about what businesses we’ve involved ourselves in so far or what our entrepreneurial plans are. It was humbling to know that some of my classmates are already managing businesses – either family-owned or of their own ventures. There were very good ideas that came up.
I intend to use this class as a venue to explore possibilities and to learn from my colleagues, although I have my own plans too and they are under way. Next meeting will be in the learning center in Los Baños. I initially didn’t plan to attend but this is getting interesting. I might.
When we all came back to work on the 5th of January, the first thing I noticed was the pantry. The tables had been rearranged and set against the wall, allowing only one side to be used. The "interior design" struck me as senseless and thoughtless at that time. But I didn't know what was coming end of that week.
By Friday morning of the first week of January, something was clearly going to happen. The bosses were unusually visible throughout the floor, flowing in and out of each other's offices. Majeed, our former editor-in-chief, was having more closed door phone calls and meetings than he could handle. And a colleague saw the head of the HR department come out of the General Manager's office!
Tip No. 1: If you see the head of HR getting involved in anything you can't put your finger into, you better dilate your eyes and expand your ears because it's definitely more than your usual guidance counsellor let's-have-a-chat stuff. When the HR is involved, it's about employees.
At 3pm of January 9, 11 officemates faced the "firing" squad. Brutally retrenched. The retrenchment did not come to me as a surprise as much as the number of people laid off did. I know that much bigger trimming off happened in the past but I wasn't there to witness it. This was the biggest I've seen so far in this company, and it involved some people who have been there for a long time.
Majeed had resigned in November. He had known about the merging of departments and the downgrading of our editorial department into a service unit, no longer a business unit. He had tried to get around the mergers, to find ways to work within the new setup. But we heard him say to a superior manager, who apparently had no idea he was leaving, that things didn't work out so he opted to resign.
The pantry knew. What struck me many days later was that most of them who were laid off in our department ate breakfast and lunch in the pantry everyday. It's like the whole lot of their lunch group were sacked. I should have seen the signs in the pantry. Tables facing the wall, not allowing the other side to be used? It meant there would soon be less people using the pantry -- at least until this coming Friday, January 30.
Our two editorial departments that had been merged will be placed in one floor -- our floor in the 14th. The editors in the 15F will join us. We'll be one big family, not sure if happy though. This Friday, the movement will happen.
I noticed the other day that the pantry tables were back in their original position. Anticipating more diners huh? By next week, it will be full again. Tip No. 2: If you're not sure but have that squishy feeling in the pit of your stomach that something's brewing in your workplace, check out the pantry. Maybe it knows.
For the second year now, my father's brother and his wife, Tito Nonoy and Tita Liz, decided to come over for Christmas lunch. Last year, they attended mass in St. Andrew and spent the entire afternoon with us, watching The Exorcism of Emily Rose (They probably enjoyed that, and came back for more). This year, they decided to hear mass in Makati again.
So, despite a late and busy Christmas eve night -- last-minute grocery shopping in Shopwise, mass in St. Andrew at 8pm, Christmas dinner and noche buena and gift opening -- I had to wake up at 10 to prepare my pasta. Again, in keeping with the trend of the season (thriftiness), the pasta was nothing fancy. Just good ol' Italian sauce and corned beef hash sauteed in olive oil, plus Tita Yorn's leftover olives, capers and cream, which we had to get because they will be away from the condo until Jan. 19.
Mama prepared shredded carrots, apples and orange pulp for salad.
We also had fried chicken....
...the usual Christmas ham...
...and pork adobo brought by Tita Liz.
We had ice cream and Becky's Kitchen walnut brownies for dessert. And finally, the wines were out. This year, my relatives decided to tackle a different kind of horror -- that of getting drunk. Although Tito Nonoy is a very responsible driver and never gets more than his adequate fill of alcoholic drinks before a trip, Tita Liz, we found out, is wont to fall for seemingly innocent drinking sprees.
While sipping on Carlo Rossi, Tito Nonoy related how he had to fetch Tita one time from a neighbor's house when she couldn't come home on her own. She was invited by female friends to have dinner and some drinks. She accepted the invitation, not knowing that two among the group are expert drinkers who were planning on a different game that night. All the dinner guests were women. They locked themselves in and began a "tagay" that lasted until midnight. Husbands, boyfriends and other male family members were not allowed to join, to ensure that the ladies would go bottoms-up on their drinks without help from the males.
Tito said he practically half-dragged, half-carried my tita home. And when they arrived, Tita Liz cried non-stop -- whether out of drunkennes or out of frustration that she didn't see through their scheme. She was quite inexperienced in this as she rarely drinks, and that served as a lesson. Until now.
She told my brother: "Natatakpan mo yata ang electric fan. Urong ka kaunti." We noticed that Tita was perspiring. A few minutes later, she said, "Parang ang init yata ngayon." She was still perspiring; the fan was directly in front of her. Then, we noticed that Mama was also perspiring and kept wiping her neck. "Oo nga, parang ang init," Mama said.
"Hindi kaya yung iniinom niyo?" asked Papa. "Bakit, ano ba iniinom niyo?" Tita Liz asked. "Ito!" pointing at the Carlo Rossi red wine. "Ano ba kasi yang iniinom niyo!" She stared at the bottle in front of her. It was not the Carlo Rossi. It was a white colored wine whose name I didn't catch, but after careful scrutiny, it had 17.5% alcohol, higher than the red wine we were drinking. And only she and Mama consumed the whole bottle! Later, they had one fan each blowing in their wet red faces.
This year's surprise was Justine, my cousin Joel's 14-year-old daughter, whom I have not seen in years. The last time I remember seeing her was when Marthe was still of crib age and Justine was looking over the crib to play with Marthe. That was most certainly a long, long time ago. So I was really taken aback when a tall, quite fashionable young lady walked in. She's now taller than me, of course (everyone seems to be!) She seldom joins her lolo and lola at Christmas as she stays with her other grandparents most of the time, but this year, she was able to come. How time flies!
Soon, Tito Nonoy, Tita Liz and Justine said goodbye. Gifts were exchanged, and another Christmas day has gone by.
Let me start by saying that this is the only year in my Global Sources professional history that I went to work on Christmas Eve. Not that I really did work! I barely had time to squeeze in thoughts of work, with all the Christmas Eve preparations running through my mind 1,000 kilobytes per second.
Tuesday night, after dinner, I finally finished decorating the Belen (Nativity Scene) in our garage. This year, there was no fancy stuff bought from the bookstore. I digged into an old box and saw the plastic leaves and stems of our old Christmas tree and voila! I had something to start with. I also saw a bag of discarded icycles and two large pieces of plastic flowers that had been pulled out from some previous Christmas decor. There were old Christmas lights in the box, too, but I didn't have time to test them so for this year, they're relegated to the box, unused. We'll probably throw them anytime anyway. No lights for the Belen this year; tipid muna. Within minutes, I had assembled the 12-piece Belen, plus all its "associate" members -- ceramic angels that were given by I-can't-recall-now-who. Some even had little tags indicating the name, date and place of the event. They were giveaways in weddings, christenings, debuts, what-have-yous. That's okay, they're great in the Belen this year, acting as cutee sentinels. (By the way, disregard the date stamp in the photo. Don't know what happened to the camera's settings.)
We do have other sentinels though. Pooh, in girlie santa costume from my opening presentation last year, and Hetty and Jollibee in party hats.
After missing shopping for stuff to put in the Santa stockings on Tuesday night (because of the Elf Convention coffee sharing), Rech and I agreed we'd hie off to Glorietta at 11am for a rush lunch break-cum-zip shopping. Rech asked Len's permission and Len agreed. The team met earlier to finally establish that we couldn't finish our deadlines for today so we're bringing home work over the holidays (waahhhh!!!). No use pretending to work.
At about 11:15, Rech and I left the office. Just as we were boarding a taxi, the last few words of the broadcaster on the taxi's radio floated into my ears: "Ayan, mga kaibigan, inuulit ko po. Ang Jan. 2 ay isang non-working holiday..." All of a sudden, Rech's voice became miles away and the radio program sounded to me like it was coming from a 5.1-channel home theater system.
I grabbed Rech's arm, "ano yun, wala tayong pasok sa Jan 2?!" Rech apparently heard it too but was as confused. I sent a text to Cecile and Len, my boss, to check the news sites for official announcement. None yet, they said. I was probably just excited about shopping, or anxious I won't be able to finish on time, they said.
Rech and I had a quick lunch in Food Choices, and I ran off to National Bookstore and she to Toy Kingdom after. On our way back to Glorietta, we noticed that many people are now flowing into the mall, driven in by the rain. Cabs were nil. We decided to walk back to Landmark or Greenbelt for a cab. While we were walking, Len called and asked if we could get some wrapping paper for her. We found a cab in GB5 after walking around for some time. We got back to the office around 2pm. Only one hour more and we can leave for vacation.
By that time, the HR office has already released an announcement about Jan 2 being a non-working holiday, after President GMA formally announced it that morning. Trust GMA to make late, impulsive declarations! So in character! Maybe she feared that her enemies would assember in her absence to counter her pro-charter change plans.
Anyway, Madam Gloria, thanks for a working Christmas Eve!
December 23 began like all days. Work occupied most of our morning, as we were bent on finishing some of our edits before the holiday vacation. Len brought Becky's walnut brownies for breakfast... and for inspiration, hoping we'd speed up our editing with some sweet fix. http://www.culinarysherpas.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/brownies-close-up.jpg
By 10:30, Lynnie and others decided to have lunch in our usual celebratory haunt, Green Tomato, in Philamlife. I tagged along. There wasn't the usual crowd, as most Makati employees were probably on leave already, and there weren't the usual "us" as some officemates have decided to eat in the pantry on take-out food. It was Marco's and Monch's last lunch with us before they go on vacation as Monch was leaving for Bicol that night and Marco for Nueva Ecija early the next day. We usually go to Philamlife for lunch for birthdays and send-offs, but this was just a break.
On our way back, I met Joy (Cabrillos). Haha, my IT colleagues are coming back from the dead. I told her about meeting Lils and Richard the day before. She told me about the Cyberpress party and asked me why we didn't attend. I told her we weren't invited. She said Red probably didn't know all of the contact numbers. (Yeah right! I thought journalists are good in getting information...) Anyway, it was a pleasant surprise to see Joy. She's still plump, and I still feel she should start slimming down, but she looked good and happy. So, being "healthy" probably fits her. Hehe. Sean, her adopted son, is now 9 years old and even if she's not married, I think Sean is giving her the happiness she deserves. Good for her.
With Lynnie in the helm, the Elves had a coffee assembly at the new Starbucks in Paseo. We call ourselves the Elves since we started this group of office-based friendship back in 2004. This merits yet another blog, but let me just say that the Elves' thrust is to save Christmas from the malls. Which means, we are not encouraging material gifts -- although we are not stopping anybody from giving material gifts if they can afford -- but priceless gifts that warm the soul are welcome: a touch, an advice, a refreshing break from work. Many of us have moved on to other companies or workplaces or have been relocated to other offices of Global Sources but once a year, during Christmas, we try to get together and we call that the Elf Convention.
This night, we decided that coffee, some leftover brownies from Len, and update stories will be enough to warm us. Melanie and Rose -- now working in other companies -- were able to spend some time with us. Emper was in Baguio with her family. Jambi arrived from HK on the 20th but he left for Negros, his hometown on Monday, so he couldn't be with us. Most of the stories that night were about funny experiences and the Christmas parties of the different offices we now work for. But later, the exchange turned to the characters of Noli Me Tangere, El Filibusterismo and Florante and Laura. And we all went home with the assignment to read Florante and Laura again till the next "Elf Convention". I hope I'll find a Florante and Laura book soon because I think the next convention will be in January, that soon.
Rech, Melanie and I parted ways in the underpass at the corner of McDonald's. If there's one thing I appreciate about working for Global Sources, it's meeting the Elves and having them as friends.
When January 2008 kicked in, one of the first e-mails I got from a colleague at work was the list of Christmas holidays in December. Thanks Marianne! You're way ahead. After seeing that e-mail, I immediately filled up three leave forms for the three remaining days of the month that was not declared a non-working holiday, and stashed it in my office drawer. I was set.
But who would think that President GMA would finally declare those three days a holiday at the last minute! (I wasted precious paper. She should make up her mind at the start of the year, you know.) Anyway, since she decided to give her 12-days-of-Christmas gift to us workers, I might as well make the most out of it. No work! No morning rush! No beating the guard's attendance log! No waking up early!
After the office Christmas party (which merits another blog), the real excitement of a long vacation began. Much as I wanted to accomplish at least half my deadlines before the vacation, I couldn't work. The week after the party, there were always surprise breakfasts and snacks brought by some generous officemates. My 12 days of Christmas meant speeding to the finish line and it began on the 22nd, Monday.
Lils and I finally managed to meet for lunch at Ebun in Greenbelt, after a very, very long time (years!) of texting and e-mailing. Lils is my colleague from the IT beat and a founding member of Cyberpress too. She used to write for Psicom and has moved to the supplier side shortly after -- IBM, Oracle, Siemens. Like me, she left IT a few years back, but continued to keep in touch with some of our batch mates in the industry. After a few minutes of hearing her stories about our friends, I realized I've been missing a lot on IT gossip. Haha. But I don't really miss the people; at least, not all.
Betty, Lils tells me, is doing great after her operation against lupus last January. I'm glad that she's back in the center of things despite her continuous battle with her sickness and her separation with her husband Carlo. (Carlo, you know what, you're a jerk. And I hope you get to read this.) He's not worth it, so I'm glad Betty is surviving gracefully.
Mel brought Marthe and Mama to my office before proceeding to work. It was their office Christmas party so he needed to be early to push some work out of the way before the party. Mama, meanwhile, was planning to do some shopping in SM so I had to do the babysitting for the day. My nanny had chickenpox and was staying in her cousin's house. I rushed out of Ebun with Lils to look for a cab but I guess the cab drivers were starting their vacation already. Even the good ol' reliable GB1 taxi stand had a long line of people and zero taxicabs.
On the way there, however, we met Richard Burgos, another colleague from IT, formerly connected with HP and IBM. He's now with Enchanted Kingdom and was inviting us to go there the next day in Christmas character costumes for a free whole day ride. Errr...haha! But Richard has not changed. Still the amiable, very accommodating person that he is. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time to talk. I really had to rush.
Abondoning all hopes of seeing an empty cab, Lils and I walked all the way back and separated in the corner of Ayala and Paseo de Roxas -- she proceeded to LKG Tower and I to Citibank Centre. I met Nina, a former officemate, near McDonalds and she told me Marthe was waiting for me in the lobby, and already consumed a whole pad paper of drawings. =)
Mama left for SM as soon as I arrived. My officemates were complaining they couldn't break the ice with Marthe when I wasn't around. (I should do something about this.) But she did talk to them after I moved her to my desk.
Marthe and I gave one plastic bag of toys to Jollibee Valero before going home, and bought a meal toy. Mama was still in SM when we finally got home. And all she bought was a shiny table linen for the TV stand. Hehehe.
The whole evening, Mel had been texting me about how their party was dragging on. He mentioned that Charlie Greene of Britain's Got Talent fame was a guest singer. He complained about Karyll singing, about Ricky Lo interviewing her onstage a la The Buzz, and about her declaration that she will be a columnist in The Star in 2009. "Star already has lots of lifestyle columnists!" he complained. I said, "Don't you sound bored with your party?" "I am!" he replied. "I'm just here for the raffle!" Who isn't? Haha. Finally, shortly before midnight, he texted, "I lost. I'm coming home now." Hahaha!
It was Marthe's dress rehearsal at the ballet studio last Saturday, Nov 8, for their recital this coming Sunday. They were so cute in their costumes. Specially the students of the Baby Ballet class. I hope I can get pictures during the dress rehearsal onstage on Saturday. Meanwhile, here are some I took from last Saturday's.
For many years, since I began joining anti-US Bases rallies in Manila as a college student, I have lost trust in America and the ideals it represents. For me, it has ceased to be the land of promise and good fortune -- the way it was portrayed in my grade school textbooks. My assumption was not without basis, with all the atrocities, crimes and misfortunes that we hear happening to America, as well as all the violence, racist behavior and elitist attitude Americans have on other people.
But today, because of the victory of Barack Obama as president of the United States, I am impressed at the American people. They have proven that the American ideals have not died on the common citizens. Real democracy is still alive in America. And because of that, perhaps there is hope for our world. For global warming. For peace and unity. For change.
Below is the transcript of President-Elect Obama's victory speech in Chicago:
If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference.
It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled — Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of red states and blue states; we are, and always will be, the United States of America.
It's the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.
It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.
I just received a very gracious call from Sen. McCain. He fought long and hard in this campaign, and he's fought even longer and harder for the country he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine, and we are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader. I congratulate him and Gov. Palin for all they have achieved, and I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead.
I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on that train home to Delaware, the vice-president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.
I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years, the rock of our family and the love of my life, our nation's next first lady, Michelle Obama. Sasha and Malia, I love you both so much, and you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the White House. And while she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother is watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight, and know that my debt to them is beyond measure.
To my campaign manager, David Plouffe; my chief strategist, David Axelrod; and the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics — you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done.
But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to — it belongs to you.
I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington — it began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston.
It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give $5 and $10 and $20 to this cause. It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy; who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep; from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on the doors of perfect strangers; from the millions of Americans who volunteered and organized, and proved that more than two centuries later, a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from this earth. This is your victory.
I know you didn't do this just to win an election, and I know you didn't do it for me. You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime — two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century. Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us. There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after their children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage, or pay their doctor's bills, or save enough for college. There is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and alliances to repair.
The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year, or even one term, but America — I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you: We as a people will get there.
There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president, and we know that government can't solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it's been done in America for 221 years — block by block, brick by brick, callused hand by callused hand.
What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter must not end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek — it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you.
So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers. In this country, we rise or fall as one nation — as one people.
Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House — a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty and national unity. Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.
As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, "We are not enemies, but friends... Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection." And, to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your president, too.
And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world — our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To those who would tear this world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight, we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.
For that is the true genius of America — that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election, except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.
She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons — because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.
And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America — the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes, we can.
At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes, we can.
When there was despair in the Dust Bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes, we can.
When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes, we can.
She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes, we can.
A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes, we can.
America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves: If our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?
This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time — to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.
Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.
