I know this is a sign of fear. I have read it in an article written by a psychologist that you try to procrastinate tasks when you are unsure of, rather scared of the result. I have started my GMAT prep, have nearly completed SC and CR from OG 11th ed. and now have to take up RC. But instead of opening the RC section in the book, I am looking the World Wide Web to "read and comprehend” various writings. This Sunday was also spent not opening the RC section.
But today was something different, as there were some signs of "hope" in this dodging. After reading few sections on TotalGadha, which I discovered last night, I read the complete text of Obama's speech delivered in Cairo. It was quite a lengthy read, but every second spent reading it was an investment for betterment, both for my RC prep and for me.
Obama's this visit to the Arab countries was seen as a beginning of new relations between the US and Muslim countries and the speech marking it had all the eyes and all the ears in this world paying attention to it. The speech lived up to very single expectation and was indeed a ray of hope. He touched all the important issues which our world is facing today and which have involvement of the Muslim extremists. And yes, Obama was very careful not to use the word terrorists and intelligently euphemized it with extremism throughout his speech.
The speech inspired me as well, but in a sense which Obama hardly must have imagined. You are bound to get impressed whenever any attorney opens his mouth and I was too by Obama's speech. I know that I may not qualify to comment on the oratorical qualities of Obama, but still, it always helps to recall the good things at your bedtime which you saw or heard in your day's work.
As said before, his speech touched upon five important issues that U.S is facing today and which involves Muslims. They were democracy, Afghan-Iran-Iraq conflicts, Israel- Palestine standoff, extremism and woman's rights. All of them had some story to tell and some lesson to teach.
In his speech, you could easily see the perfect use of words that were assertive, showing the powers that he enjoys as the 44th president of the United States of America, the words which accepted the recent mistakes by his predecessor, the words which acknowledged everyone's right to live and umpteen instances and examples from U.S.'s and Muslim history to substantiate the message that he wanted to convey. I could see that he was aware of every boundary within which he was working, but at the same time was showing his strengths as well. Possessing this quality of recognition of your constraints is primal whenever you set some target for yourself and knowing your strengths and capitalizing on them helps you achieve that goal.
He is a democrat and you could easily tell it when he stressed that basic human character needs freedom of expression. He did not want to "force" his ideas on the Arab world, where this freedom is a distant dream, but acknowledged that every culture has its own ways to nurture its followers and what these countries follow is acceptable as long as their rules don't harm innocent people. Anyway, his views about democracy bolstered mine and I learnt that if you want to underscore the importance of your point of view, it is equally important to understand your audiences' views as well, no matter if they are poles apart. Yes, the lesson to be learnt was "no one is more important than you and everyone is equally important as you are".
All and all, the gist of this five point something speech was an advice to the Muslim community, be it in Palestine, Afghanistan, Iran or Iraq, that every other sect has equal right to live and there should be a synergy between the Muslims and the non-Muslims.
For Obama, with his speech he made a fresh start to bridge the gaps and hoped to have cordial relations with the Muslims, but for me, this five-point-someone marked a beginning to my RC prep, which was long overdue.
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