The American Dream

"Yes, we can!" Barack Obama mesmerized the American public, young and old, black and white, rich and poor on his winning day as President-elect of the US. His charisma won cover hearts of American people. His whirlwind did not only sweep Europe, Africa, Middle East, but it also brought a momentum to Grand Toastmasters Club members this evening.

In stead of following the old tradition to celebrate the Beaujolais evening on the third Thursday of November, Grand gave up drinking this evening and chose the meeting theme "I have a Dream" to remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and to celebrate the victory of Barack Obama--a milestone of humanity. Human beings are free at last. Thank God Almighty, human beings are free at last from prejudice and discrimination.

Toastmaster Eric Chou was the one who proposed and made this special meeting possible. He invited Helen Lin to recite "I Have A Dream" of Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1963 at the variety session at the beginning of the meeting. He invited me to talk about the rhetoric, structure, sentence patterns, metaphors, wordings of the inspiring speech of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the language evaluation session at the end of the meeting. Both Helen and I dressed up like African Americans to play our roles in a theatrical effect. We won a big round of applause from the audience.

Americans have something to be proud of in pursuing their dreams. From signing the Emancipation Proclamation on the 1st of January 1863 to the birth of their first black president Barack Obama on the 5th of November, 2008, the USA has come a long way. It is not an easy journey, but with the vision of Dr. Martin Luther King and the collective efforts of American people, young and old, black and white, rich and poor, Americans have realized their big dream of their forefathers to guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all American people.

Congratulations to all American people and thank you for setting up an example for us in the rest of the world to follow, to have a dream, and to make the dream come true.