Obama-Inspired and Perspired

Time now is just a few minutes to 0800 in Malaysia and 13 hours earlier in Washington.
CNN is still live on the Inauguration of the 44th President of USA.(44 is not a good number for the Chinese, so i was told).
I stayed up till after his speech till about 0100 this morning with my cycling buddy Won.
Incidentally Won came earlier to leave his Bianchi bike for my safe keeping during the Chinese New Year Holidays.
Together we watched Obama taking the oath (where both he and the CJ fumbled with their words)and later delivered his much anticipated speech.
I cannot remember verbatim what he said, but i can understand fully what he delivered.
I am sure his speech will be an Inspirations to many as the day goes on.
What attracts me is his brave words when he reaffirmed his pledge that "as much as the challenge ahead is daunting, the challenges will be met head on"

"When the going gets tough the tough gets going, but when the going gets tougher, only the tougher ones gets going"(This is my version of the quotation)

My hope is that as much as he has inspired many, i am sure he will perspire in future months to keep the inspirations alive.

As a Muslim, i am a bit sentimental that an American President has a Muslim name....
Barack Hussein Obama, where Barack is Barakah or Berkat which means Blessed.

Blessed are those who belief in HIM.
Alhamdulillah and God Bless,
HE knows best.

Even though Obama's father came to the US not as a slave but as a student, we must remember that the racial prejudice during that time was still strong.
Inter racial marriages too was frowned upon then
More so that he was not even an American, but from a third world country, Kenya.

Indeed if Obama is tough, i am sure that his father and mother was tougher.
They survived a much tougher time then.
And the tougher one is definitely his mother, who survived just so that his son survive.
She braves the odd just so that his son survive.

I simply can't visualise the prejudices and challenges that she had to go through.
I could not imagine how his mother's mother(grandma)felt then, when the daughter married a black foreigner from a foreign third world country).
I cannot imagine how she felt again when her daughter married another third world foreigner from Indonesia!!!


For how much we erred, they have never erred in their prayers for us.
We are blessed because they blessed us.
As much as his book is titled 'Dreams from my father' it was the Mother that kept and ensured that the dream was achieved.

GOD BLESS OUR MOTHERS

Azudin O Fuad