Moving Ahead
I have been receiving phone calls from friends and family all night and this morning. Everyone is jubilant, but I think that it is important that we start to look ahead. I know it is early and many of us want to enjoy the moment, but at some point we will have to move on and work to make our country and communities better.
Here are some of my ideas:
Volunteer - Get involved in your community. Join the PTA. Get involved at Big Brothers/Big Sisters. Join civic organizations. Help to clean up your community. Look for opportunities to get involved and improve things on the ground. However, we also must have the courage to confront the reality we are dealing with and demand that our leaders live up to the standards that we hold.
Give to Worthy Charities - Especially those that are helping to improve the community
Change the culture - Let’s teach our children to value thrift, hard work, education, organization and discipline. Create savings accounts for your children. Encourage them to save money and keep up with how much they have saved.
This is a team effort - I have spoken to members of my family and we have all determined that we are all invested in the development of my sons (the only grandsons). This is a team effort. We all need to get our families together and work to make it strong. Any effective solution requires family involvement in the education of children. We are vital in passing on knowledge and strong values. We must be involved in our children’s lives and schools for their own good as well as the good of the teachers, the community, and families.
Be an example to others - Let’s encourage them to excel at the highest levels. Let’s collectively and individually work on our own improvement. Each of us can be a positive example in our communities.
Pay no attention to the naysayers - They are finished and irrelevant
Encourage others to do all of the above and more. Share your ideas to improve our country in a practical way
Filed under: Bad Culture, Children's Issues, Politics
as salamu ‘alaykum
Jazaka Allahu khairan. I was speaking with my father earlier and he also shared some of his ideas with me. He is so hopeful and it truly touches the heart to see such hope in my family who have had their share of struggles getting to this country and being where they are now , may Allah guide them. Ameen
Alhamdulillah. May this push us to build stronger communities. Ameen
If only the Muslims put hope in Allaah!
Excellent post!
Great thoughts
On and off, I’ve been doing volunteer work for 10 years. Presently, times has not been by my side, but I have donated to adoption and educational programs. I’ve dome some PTA and did some volunteer work helping people with basic computer technology.
From time to time, I thought about helping people learn how to read and write, maybe with HABITAT for humanity or in soup kitchens. My French club has shown interest in doing volunteer in a refugee center and I’m interested in doing the project. If it goes through and if times goes by my side, I will do it. These projects are not only dear to me, but in a couple of cases, I enjoyed my work.
tell the naysayers:
YES WE CAN!!!!
thanks for this reminder…amidst all the excitement and celebration we should really take Obama’s words to heart and realize that this is not the end…it is only the beginning. Now, the true challenge lies ahead and we can’t sit around and wait for politicians and self-proclaimed leaders to make a difference. It will require the efforts of everyone.
I think getting more involved in our community is an excellent initiative that we all can commit to. So many of us volunteered to help Obama get elected but let’s not return to our couches now that the job is done. I would like to see a better environment and a better situation for my children.
And if you don’t WORK (fisabilillah) you can’t COMPLAIN!
Great post. I’ve written a post that makes a similar point that will be up tomorrow morning at http://www.BlackPerspective.net.
We can enjoy the victory for the moment; but the change we want is not all up to Barack; but it’s up to all of us to support the agenda that we want going forward, and that means active support, not just wanting it.
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