Last night sitting in my living room with my white husband on my red couch, life changed forever. Barack Hussein Obama, became President Elect of the United States and will be our 44th President.
It was one of those moments when you know that down the line, when people ask you about that day, you will remember where you were, who you were with and how you felt and the tears streaming down your face. I am so grateful that I am alive at this time. A time when watershed moments have taken place and my perception of what’s possible has changed.
In my lifetime I have seen things that seemed impossible to change, change. Apartheid end in South Africa; the Berlin Wall come down, and Oprah Winfrey, a black woman become the richest and most influential woman in America. One of my teachers, famous medium, Hans Christian King, said the other day that there is no world hunger, there is a refusal to share the resources we have. We don’t have a hunger problem, we have a perception problem.
Well, last night, the glass ceiling that has always existed over me finally shattered. The first crack in it came the day I read in Time magazine that Oprah Winfrey was worth $400 million. She was on the cover of the magazine. She was everywhere. Her influence was undeniable. She was a tastemaker, she shaped public opinion. She could make and unmake careers. And she was worth $400 million. I was shocked. I never knew until then how limited my perspective was.
I was a black woman, the same age as Oprah, I had many of the same gifts, but I realized, I had never thought it possible that a black woman could achieve what she had achieved. I had been operating out of lack and limitation. For the first time, I realized how low a bar I had set for myself because I didn’t believe it was possible for me.
As a spiritual practitioner of new thought, I often say “In God all things are possible.” but the truth is there are certain things I just didn’t believe were possible. A year ago I didn’t believe that a black man could become President of the United States. In fact, I didn’t believe it was possible till two months ago. And then last night it actually happened and this morning I realized for me, for the first time in my life, I finally believe that for me, for my nieces and nephews and all people of color that all things are possible. Not some things, all things.
I don’t just believe it. I know it. As Oprah says, this is now one of the things “I know for sure.” The glass ceiling finally shattered. Whether you are a Democrat or Republican, black or white, last night, we all experienced a perception shift with Barack’s election. Something we had not thought was possible happened. What if Hans Christian King is right?
What if our economic crisis, our health crisis, our education crisis are also perception problems? As JFK said (quoting George Bernard Shaw): “There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”
Thank you, Barack, for the courage to stay the course and shatter the glass ceiling. Today, we can say with absolute conviction, “in God, all things are possible.”