A reader asks Matt what he believes was the biggest news event of 2009.

Matt responds:

I believe it was the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States.

This showed the world a great leap towards acceptance of who we are as a people.  We are diverse, multi-cultural, multi-racial, multi-religious.  Whereas in many cases voters act only as partisans, this election crossed all lines.Whether we agreed or didn’t agree with the outcome of the election, it said myriads to the people around the world.

As I traveled internationally before the election, everyone was skeptical that the United States would ever elect a black man as President.  Now that it’s happened, there’s a belief that we are truly a democratic society, practicing what we preach, being who we are.

The next step of our long journey will be electing a woman as President.  When that happens, I think we will have covered the major bases.

Our democracy is evolving, and I can tell you first-hand, it’s being watched very closely by numerous institutions around the world.

So President Obama’s election, as far as I’m concerned, was the great news event of last year.

As the year came to a close, I became nostalgic, as I always do, when the networks showed the lists of the people who died...

When you think of the work, the joy, the problem-solving that made these people worthy of being noticed, you begin to think of the real task that each one of us must take up to fill the voids left by their deaths.

I don’t believe we were sent here to be onlookers.  I think we all have a job, even if it’s picking up a can and moving it from left to right; or closing a window or opening a door; or helping a child; or being a peacemaker; or being a dreamer and sharing your dreams with others; or having hope.

Hope is not fulfilled by sitting and looking at it.  It will never move unless someone makes an action.  Therefore, each of us is so important in what we do.

I still love the old Nike slogan:  “Just do it.”

Matt