Former President Obama’s farewell speech brought on a fresh new wave of emotion and inspiration for every single American who watched him speak. Along with the speech came many messages for the people of America to look to and follow along with. While there were a great many points and concepts brought up by Obama throughout the course of the speech, such as equality through race and other boundaries, one of the most prominent ideas was that of change, of changes made through Obama’s eight years as president and the change that Obama now expects for the people of America to create.

Change has been a massive part of Obama’s time as a President. Throughout his time, massive changes have been implemented, changes that affected the country at a monumental level and caused lots of debates concerning the general people' s opinion. Change was a massive piece in the foundation of Obama’s campaign and through his time as President, he has made sure that changes were made, such as the shutting down of nuclear weapons, the creation of jobs, marriage equality, and even more. A lot of these changes were, according to Obama, all thanks to the people, as stated by himself, “But that’s what we did. That’s what you did. You were the change. You answered people’s hopes, and because of you, by almost every measure, America is a better, stronger place than it was when we started.”

While many massive changes have been implemented by Obama throughout his time as the President of the United States of America, President Obama made it very clear in his speech that these changes were implemented through the will and resolve of the people, and more changes will only be made if people continue to hold steadfast onto that resolve. Obama proclaimed that the common people have the ability to make the change that they wish for, and they should believe that they are all capable of change, as it was told in his speech, “I am asking you to believe. Not in my ability to bring about change but in yours.”

Former President Obama was given an important message about change in his last speech, and he has demonstrated the powerful effects of change throughout his eight years as President. Although he is no longer working as the President of the United States of America, he still urges the people to make change happen, and to believe in their own ability and will to make change happen when they feel that it is the right thing to do.


<Heejae Park, OCSA 9th Grade>