-John Legend, singing at the Democratic National Convention
I hope all of you had a chance to see Michelle Obama’s speech last night at the Democratic National Convention:
It was so real & inspirational, you could see the audience bursting with emotion as she spoke. Many were crying as Michelle talked about the future of America. I don’t usually get too involved in political commentary or blogs, but I was struck by this post about how Twitterers were microblogging last night, gushing over Michelle’s speech. One asked, “Why are people crying at the Democratic National Convention? During Michelle Obama’s speech, crying,” asked “SeeMax.” I’m not gonna front, I was sitting at home tearing up, too! And I asked myself that same question: why the hell am I sitting up here wiping tears from my eyes?
So I woke up wanting to write about why we need the kind of people that can bring us to tears, the kind of leaders that make us hope so hard that it touches the deepest parts of us. It amazes me that during the Obama campaign – no matter what your politics – you have to agree that it has brought the kind of inspiration to Americans that we have not seen in a very long time. It takes a special kind of leader to connect with so many people and set fire in them a will to change this world. That is what we need from the next President. That is what we need from our nonprofit leaders today. We have been yearning for leaders as change agents, not simply keepers of the status quo. We do not need more of the same in America or our nonprofit sector. Because, as Michelle Obama said, the future is too important for us to risk:
“And as I tuck that little girl and her little sister into bed at night, I think about how one day, they’ll have families of their own. And one day, they – and your sons and daughters – will tell their own children about what we did together in this election. They’ll tell them how this time, we listened to our hopes, instead of our fears. How this time, we decided to stop doubting and to start dreaming. How this time, in this great country – where a girl from the South Side of Chicago can go to college and law school, and the son of a single mother from Hawaii can go all the way to the White House – we committed ourselves to building the world as it should be.”
Let us find the strength every day to overcome our fears – about our country, about our jobs, about what our bosses or boards will think of us – and say what needs to be said and do what needs to be done. We are the future of this country, all us nonprofit leaders alongside public officials and the corporate sector. We know that the leaders we need in our communities are already here. They look like you and me. And right now we have an incredible responsibility, a responsibility to stop doubting what is possible and start dreaming of the real change we want to see. Because no matter who is elected President in November, it will be our opportunity to create the world as it should be.
Cozality on 
bsaunders on 
