Today, President Barrack Obama of the United States celebrates his 49th birthday. He shares his birthday with some notable historical figures. From the British Queen Mother, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, to the Swedish diplomat and humanitarian, Raoul Wallenberg.

Who would have thought that the child born on the 4th of August 1961, would overcome the social barriers, of that time, posed by the ‘colour of his skin’, and make the world see the ‘content of his character’ to one day occupy the highest office of his land.

Twenty years later, to the date, a child was born not in disimilar circumstances. Born in a land where laws existed that discriminated against his race. He crossed an ocean to grow up in a new continent and learnt the language, mastered the culture and understood attitudes of his new people and new land. He became the people and the land. And he wanted to make his land, ‘renowned of all the lands.’

That child, now a young man, is still growing. Still learning. Still dreaming. Still discovering. Still exploring.

That child is me.

Photo courtesy of www.whitehouse.gov