Take a look at that shiny new smartphone you have, or maybe the big screen TV you 
have at home. Pretty sweet, right? You’ve got these great commodities which you worked so hard for and now that you have them in your life you should feel happier, right? You now have what you worked for. It’s in your life now, and you can take pride in it.
As our sesquipedalian Cheeto-faced orange of a president states so eloquently: Wrong.
We’ve been here before, haven’t we? Ther
e’s an endless cycle of death and destruction that seems to permeate itself around the world, and instead of seeking out the truth and wisdom we need to continue to live in a just, peaceful world, we cling to our fears to keep us rooted in a world of stereotypes, prejudices, and a retrograde of progress.
We build the world we see based on our experiences and the reactions to those experiences. We can take an experience we’ve had in our life and make it the very essence for our fight for a certain cause, or we can use that experience to fortify ourselves around a barricaded wall of misinformation and hate. Like it or not, we live in a post 9/11 world where stereotypes we haven’t seen the likes of since the 1920s and 1930s are now prevalent in our society. We have two paths which we can go down now: one where we learn from these hideous tragedies and come together as one human race or we can continue down the path we’re already on: one of racism, sexism, and division.
You showed class and dignity at a time when Washington was at its most divisive and pettiest. You understood the importance of being proactive rather than being reactive.
You never responded to any of the awful things thrown at you because they simply weren’t worth your time. When they went low, you went high.
You believed in “We the People” as one nation instead of a nation of sections, states, or party members, and always reached out to learn others’ frustrations and how to reach a common ground.
When tragedy struck, you were there to console us like a father weeping for the loss of his son, because we were all your children and we knew you looked out for us. Whether it be Newtown, Aurora, Fort Hood, Orlando, or San Bernadino, you embraced each of us with the comfort and reminder of love that each of us needed.
When you knew something was wrong, you fought against it with hope, perseverance, and compassion. Sometimes you succeeded in change, and sometimes you did not, and that’s okay, because we know we have so much more work to do.
No, you were not a perfect president, but there will never be a perfect president. Instead, though, you reminded prior generations, and let an entirely new generation know, that there can be someone in the Oval Office who knows what they’re doing, will treat you as their equal, and never forget to remind you that the limits of human possibility are boundless.
We took your intelligence for granted and we will miss having someone who not only identified with disenfranchised Americans when related to your upbringing, but fought for compassion and empathy in this nation. There is an entire generation of Americans who have never seen America with a president who is white, and the power behind that is immeasurable.
Where many of us today see a red or a blue America, you, sir, see one United States of America, and we’ll get to that point with you one day. And when we do get there, I think we’ll finally understand and realize that we couldn’t have gotten there without you, President Barack Obama.
Thank you.
– RA
To Tame the Savageness of Man 