Today Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States. Aside from being the first African-American president, the 47-year-old’s amazing success will also inspire millions of immigrants who come to a new land to pursue something special.
His father, a Kenya national, studied in the U.S. on a student visa. Obama himself spent nearly 5 years in Indonesia after his mother relocated there. His extended family, in Obama’s own word, is like “mini-United Nations.”
Born to a broken family, raised by grandparents, no money, no background, no connections, practically nothing, other than a strong will to be successful. Yet Obama managed to graduate from Columbia University and Harvard Law School, to become a U.S. Senator, and to beat a slew of big-shot politicians to win the Presidential Election.
Would this ever happen anywhere else in this world? Sometimes when people say “Only in America!”, they may be joking, or just being sarcastic. But today, not many people would argue.
His success does give a lot of people hope. Kids in war-torn countries will learn a lot from his story.