What a beautiful coincidence!
On the same day that Barack Obama gave his historic speech on race in Philadelphia, German Chancellor Angela Merkel addressed the Israeli parliament (speaking in Hebrew as well as German). Each of these speeches sought to reach for a more genuinely inclusive understanding of who we are and how we are connected.
Obama, referring to his controversial black minister and his white grandmother (who sometimes expressed racist thoughts) said "These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love." Merkel said "Germany and Israel are and will always remain linked in a special way through the memory of the Holocaust."
I am glad Obama did not reject anyone -- as a person -- outright, for each unique but limited perspective is part of the whole. I am glad that the language of German was heard in the Knesset. But neither of these speeches, on their own, really got to me ... I appreciated them but did not really feel anything. But when I realized that they happened on the same day, in different parts of the world, well then I got it, the emotional wave that comes with the recognition of healing, that something new is trying to be born.
Here is an excellent analysis of Merkel's speech, as an act of healing and leadership, from The Daily Star of Lebanon.
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