I watched Oprah’s special on ABC called “Building a Dream”. It was great. There is an encore telecast of this special once again on Sat March 3rd at 8:00PM and I would recommend all parents watching it with their children. It will make them want to study.

The stories of all the girls are incredibly inspiring. These kids are wise beyond their age. These kids know that education is their only way out of the dire conditions they live in. Many of the girls walk through extremely unsafe streets just to get to a bus-stop. Most have no running water or electricity. In spite of all these odds these girls are working hard in school to be the best. I was so moved by their courage and dedication.

There were two sisters in the group who had witnessed their mother being shot by their father and then the father shooting himself when they were only five and six years old. These girls still say they love their parents and support one another. They dream of a better future for themselves and work hard in school to achieve it. There was another girl whose mother abandoned her when she was just four years old. This girls eyes well up with tears when she talks about being abandoned; I could feel her pain. She is raised by her father and she perseveres everyday in school to be number one. The determination in this girl is great.This young girl was telling her peers that to be a leader you must “blend out” not “blend in”; incredible wisdom for a little girl.

All the personal stories of these girls was gut wrenching. The common traits among all these girls was incredible courage, enormous hope, and gratitude. Our children (in the USA) have all amenities to study but they always whine to buy things their peers have form I-pods to X-Box. They take almost everything for granted. Gratitude for things they do have is scarce. The media corrupts their mind by feeding their minds with more and more wants. Our children have no idea about how children their age struggle in other countries.

One of the girls who lost her mother to AIDS said, “I loved my mother. I miss her but I know God has his reasons.” This girl is so resilient in the face of such tragedy that she wants to study hard to become a doctor and find a cure for AIDS. She is able to channel her immense grief in a positive direction. One more standout quality in all these girls is how spiritual they all were.

Our media coverage of Africa is only about the famines and civil wars. These facts to require the world’s attention but when that is the only thing covered, it creates a perception that Africa is a continent where people are barbaric to fight amongst themselves and deprived of even basic needs like food and water. Yes, there is famine and civil wars but that is the only thing happening in Africa. The Oprah special on ABC showed me the hopeful side of Africa.The media portrays this place to be hopeless but anyone who saw the special ( or will see it on March 3rd ) will drive that notion from their mind totally.

Oprah’s Leadership Academy is a place where the hope and dreams of these amazing girls are given a chance to be realized. There was one girl who asked Oprah, “Am I good enough to be in this school?: Oprah was moved by this girls courage and said that it is the number one question we ask ourselves all the time but this girl had the courage to put that fear/doubt in the open.

My previous views on Africa were very much fed by the media and like many I felt it was a doomed continent. The special made me see that there is hope for a very bright future in the continent. The drive in these young girls convinced me that they have the power to transform their nation and the world. I am rooting for these kids to succeed and move their countries into a very bright future. Oprah is confident they can; I feel the same.

I admire Oprah tremendously for building this school in South Africa. She did take some heat for building a school there instead of here in the USA. She is a great philanthropist and she has done a lot in this country. America is a developed/rich country; the government can afford to build more schools or raise the quality by just wanting to do so. Oprah’s philanthropy makes a difference here but in South Africa it has the potential to transform the future. I applaud all the great work she does but building this school is probably her greatest achievement.

In the end Oprah said to the girls, ” I thought I was giving this school to you but you have give me so much more, so much more. Thank You.” It was very emotional and I could feel how proud and happy she was for accomplishing this dream. She was like a mother to all these girls and they felt her warmth. She had an amazing connection with everyone of them.

In essence Oprah is a great humanitarian.

John Mccain was respected for his maverick streak. He spoke his mind and that’s the reason he stood out in the republican herd. People felt he was authentic even when they disagreed with him on policy. His 2000 presidential fell apart because of the sleeze tactics of Bush’s campaign. The lesson that Mccain learned from this experience seems to be that he would align himself with the hard right because that seemed to deliver victory to George W Bush. The point he is missing is that Bush was one of the hard right; he had to court them but he did not have to change his views to appeal to them; they were already in sync. Mccain on the other hand has to depart from his real personality to appeal to the hard right conservatives.

Mccain has pandered to the Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson’s so much that he killed his maverick streak all together. His straight talk express had derailed. I don’t see it getting back on track. Not only has he tried to court the right to appear socially conservative; he is also trying to woo the billionare exec’s by reversing his stand on tax cuts. He does not seem authentic anymore. He is trying to be somebody he is not.

Trying to present himself into what his campaign thought people wanted was one of the primary reasons John Kerry lost the 2004 election. He tried to be comfortable talking religion when it was very clear to people he was not. He tried to portray himself as pro-gun by wearing the camouflage outfit and hunting a duck. This was not him and everyone who watched knew it. People were turned off by these antics and it made him less authentic. He would have been better of if he stayed true to himself. Mccain is treading similar ground that John Kerry did in 2004.

In the end people want their leaders to be real. They want to believe what their leaders say. People are much smarter than the politicians give them credit for. When John Kerry wore his hunting gear with a duck in his hand, everyone who watched knew it was fake except Kerry and his campaign. Politicians in their bubble feel that these stunts would make them appeal to a demographic who prior were not favorable to them. What they do not understand is that all people including the demographic they are trying to win understand that the candidate is faking it. This desperate pandering even turns off people who ardently supported them in the beginning. Departing from the candidate’s true personality is a loose-loose situation. Nobody wants to be be lied to.

Mccain loathed the Christian right and now he is their best friend. He may have been conservative on social issues but that was not what he talked about; they were not high on his priority. Now he is in favor of reversing Roe v Wade and against gay marriage. He is in favor of legislating his religious beliefs. He is back tracking from his opposition to tax cuts.

The appeal that Mccain had among moderates is waning fast. He is not able to convince the social conservatives that he is one of them and as president he would be championing their causes. The hard right don’t trust him Trying to woo the right wing base has antagonized many of the centrist/independent/moderate voters who were truly his base. John Kerry’s campaign disaster was a model from which Mccain must have learned instead of emulating.