What's your story?

I was flipping through the channels on TV last night and I came across Obama's speech to Gay rights activists promising them he would end the "don't ask, don't tell policy" within the U.S. military. There was one particular part in his speech that stood out to me:

"That’s the story of America: of ordinary citizens organizing, agitating and advocating for change; of hope stronger than hate; of love more powerful than any insult or injury; of Americans fighting to build for themselves and their families a nation in which no one is a second-class citizen, in which no one is denied their basic rights, in which all of us are free to live and love as we see fit."

Throughout my many years in school, in history class and political science with Mrs. K it always stuck out to me how ironic it seemed that at the very beginning when those great men were sitting in Philadelphia on a hot summer day writing what is now the foundation of our government, advocating freedom and justice, wanting to break away from the English crown, fighting for their rights of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" (as stated in the Declaration of Independence) that what is happening internally with many issues in the U.S. today is very similar to what those men in 1776 were fighting for as well.

It's sad to think that more than half of the people living in America, who proudly call themselves Americans don't even know their own history. They forget or often times don't even understand that the ideals and principles the country they call home were founded on are the exact same things people who are gay, lesbian, pro-choice are fighting for today. They are fighting for their basic rights as well, to live their life, without laws and regulations telling them what they can and can not do.

Granted I may be a little bias because I'm absolutely in love with Obama and everything he stands for (he won the Nobel peace prize as well!), but its often said that history has a tendency of repeating itself, different situation but still the same fight. And maybe it will be this great man who will now let this story be told the right way.