We have now come to the second clip from the second video in the video series on new political dreams, visions, and ideologies. In this clip, we are taking out a first insight from the segment we heard in the first clip, from Martin Luther King's "I've been to the mountaintop" speech. This insight is that King makes great use of a historical perspective. Of zooming out, and thereby seeing that change is possible, inevitable even. And that we still are in the middle of this change. And now it is up to us. What do we want to see happen now, in our lifetime?
In this blog post, I want to add a little bit more inspiring examples of the same idea. The first of those is Hans Rosling. Prof Rosling became famous on the world-scene through his first TED talk, and here is a shortened-down version of the essense of this talk: a historical overview of how the world has progressed.
The greatness of this is that you see how the world has evolved, and how it is no longer true that the world is divided into a developed and an undeveloped world, but that country after country, continent after continent, are following in this evolution, and that we in fact are seeing a continous chain of countries, all climbing up the ladder. This gives an important point: if we take care of our ecological impact - using new smart, green technologies - we can all climb up to the upper right corner.
The second example I want to give is from Barack Obama's wonderful wonderful speech on the night that he won the election, in 2008. In the end of this speech, he also takes a historical overview of what has happened in the world through just the life-time of one individual: Ann Nixon Cooper. This overview gives the feeling that change is not only possible, it is inevitable. But how it will change - that is up to us. Us who live in this moment.
"This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's 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, 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 doubts 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."
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