I met Barack Obama!
I had an opportunity to canvass for the Obama campaign before our presidential election. As an appreciation Barack gave volunteers a VIP pass to hear him speak in Pueblo, Colorado. I was so convinced that I would be right there on stage with this man that I could hardly contain myself. There would be no lines and I could walk right up to the front. I readied my video camera and prepared what I would say to him. And fantasized about his reply. And how my readers (that’s you) would marvel at my thinking of asking him this one most important question:
What is your purpose Barack Obama?
That’s right. That’s the question I wanted answered for my blog. And you would be impressed with me too–What is your purpose? I know that his purpose isn’t to be president of the United States. That’s just a job! Purpose is much bigger than that. You have to look underneath the job and get in touch with the energy that motivates you to go for a specific type of job.
I pondered how he would respond to my question.
Service. Yes, his purpose is to serve, I thought. He has served communities and our country. It seems as if he receives a great deal of satisfaction from the service he provides. He serves well. Maybe his purpose is to lead, yes he could do that. Or maybe it is to bring about change, isn’t that what his campaign is about? Or to unite (the American people). Perhaps his purpose is to motivate or to communicate. I anxiously awaited his response that would be caught on video… And then I let my thoughts wander to my business.
I think you can tell what a persons’ purpose if you watch closely.
When we are searching for our own purpose, clues can be found in the activities we engage in. Our purpose can be found in how we interact with others and it can be found in the choices we make. I also think if you know what your purpose is, you can express it in many different ways. Serving as president is one way Barack can manifest his purpose. Even if Barack and I have the same purpose, my purpose will never look like being president of the United States. That would just be silly. But I can serve my clients. I can motivate people to make major changes in their lives. I can connect!
If I know what my purpose is, then I can live my purpose in all areas of my life, simply through my conscious awareness of it. If my purpose is to empower and I intend to bring my purpose into my life as a whole then I might do these things:
Be aware of my own empowerment issues. Notice whether or not I am in my power when I am making choices. At each opportunity, make choices from this place of empowerment. In my relationships (including client relationships) I will be consciously aware of my interactions to ensure that I am not stripping anyone else of their power. I will allow my children to make choices and experience the natural consequences of their choices as this will empower them to take responsibility for their lives.
I arrived at the rally!
A tall man in the crowd helped put my daughter on my shoulders. She wedged herself in the branches of a tree. I handed her the video camera. Once she finished her aerial viewing of our next President, she exclaimed something I’ve felt about myself for much of my life. “Mom, he’s just a speck!”
My hopes had been shattered as I stood with my forehead against a tree with sixty pounds of 10-year-old on my shoulders. I breathed my final sigh of surrender as Barack Obama’s voice boomed out to a crowd of 25K people. I thought he was thinking his purpose was to remind the crowd of the mishaps of the good-’ol-boy administration. I don’t need reminding. Just when I was thinking we were going to talk about someone I didn’t come to hear about, he addressed the people. Then he addressed my daughter and then he addressed the man next to me and then he addressed me.
I heard with my own unedited-ears how I am part of this country and that we create our experience together. I had an over powering sense of connectedness and felt more than just me. I felt “WE.” I felt empowered.
You decide!
I could tell you what his divine purpose is, but instead I’ll share mine and you tell me if Barack and I share the same purpose. My purpose is to empower! And if Barack Obama has a purpose it is most assuredly to empower the American people! He has a purpose to serve us. He knows what the average person is going through in this country, and as a result can express his purpose to connect and unite.
I don’t know if he would agree with my bestowal of his purpose, but I do know how I felt standing up against that tree. Generally keeping my mouth shut out of fear, I came home empowered to speak up for what is true for me. Don’t hate me because I’m right!
I pray that Barack Obama has the experience of expressing his purpose through the role of President of The United States of America. And I hope that we, the American people, get the opportunity to experience a sense of empowerment that has long been missing for us.
There! I said it. I put a sign in my yard and opened my big mouth!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Written by CK Reyes - Life Coach, Facilitator and Cheerleader of your Wildest Dreams! Contact Leila using the tab above.
Join the conversation and leave your thoughts below:
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
CK I love this post. Barack would be following his purpose even if he didn’t become president. His service as a community organizer, leading, uniting – he does that naturally.
I get it… and I love that awareness… It helps me know I’m on purpose even if things don’t go as planned…
This is a marvelous story, CK! What an experience for you to have, even if it was different from your expectations. I have spent some time wondering about President Obama’s purpose too. I’m sure that obstacles will constantly be placed in his way, obstructing the smooth flow that would happen if everyone were in agreement with him. BUT I notice how he affects individuals. His presence, his bearing, his radiance, affects those who hear him or watch him. His face and voice radiate truth. I don’t know how much he will be able to accomplish as a President, in the long run, but in the short run, he accomplishes plenty just by waking up and living among other people.
That’s my take on it.
Bonnie,
Thanks for joining in our conversation… I have a suspicion that one reason Barack is living his purpose by leading is just because he is mixed race, white and black, and has lived in various places, can draw upon his various experiences.
It is fascinating to follow his leadership. It is truly an amazing time.
Hi CK, I am glad to have read this account of being at that rally, as I was not but wanted to be. Hmm, maybe not enough. ANyway…
I see your truth that Barack Obama is such a dynamic and motivational uniter of purpose and director of enrgy (to the places that it NEEDS to go!), and now, since the election and now the inauguration of him as our president have passed, I feel the undeniable HEALING quality of just the simple fact that he, an ethnically diverse person, is in this position at the head of our country. I am in awe of this remarkable series of events that is taking place and so grateful that this race rift (that I have realized has affected me, being white, just as much but certainly not in the same ways as my other-ethnicity brothers and sisteres) is beginning to come to balance in America.
“Free at last, free at last, thank god, almighty, we are free at last!”
Oh, to be a part of it!!
OH yeah, Hi to you, Michelle and Bonnie (though, I don’t formally know you, but of you) too!
PEACE
Aaah, Jacob. I have been wondering how to really be a part of it…. instead of the observer it all..
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