America and the pursuit of happiness

12 12 2008

In these days, many people (and me among them), in Italy, are celebrating obama_president the victory of Barack Obama. But some months ago, many of them (not me among them) were convinced that “the United States were not ready for an African-American president yet” …it is worth remembering that the same people said that “America was not ready for a woman as president” at the time in which Hillary Clinton was still running for the White House!

The truth is that, in my country, America is judged without knowing it in depth. Trying to do it, they would find that American citizens love their country, love their roots, their multiculturalism, but especially love the constitutional principle of their common life, what they call “the pursuit of happiness”.

When you look for happiness, you try to change, you change the views, your prejudices.

I would ask those italian people (I was speaking about) if they love their country, if they are personally committed to promote the common good, even if this means giving up to their own particular interest, if they are looking for happiness. And I would also ask if they would vote for a candidate with Albanian roots, or Rumanian, Latin American, African, Middle Eastern, Chinese …

The truth is that America is still a great example of democracy as  the results of the last elections show. An example that should be followed in my own country (Google translation).

Photo Creative Commons by Skacrow

Go to the italian text





Aphorism of the day: About genius and beauty

25 11 2008

“Beauty is a form of genius–is higher, indeed, than genius, as it needs no explanation. It is of the great facts in the world like sunlight, or springtime, or the reflection in dark water of that silver shell we call the moon”

O. Wilde

“I look forward to an America which will not be afraid of grace and beauty”

J. Fitzgerald Kennedy