WHAT IS YOUR NEW YEAR RESOLUTION?

No other event is anticipated more than watching the New Year's Eve Ball descend from the flagpole atop One Times Square on New Year’s Eve. Approximately, one million people attend the celebration in Manhattan. It is not only a New York event, it is a global phenomenon with one billion people tuning in their television sets and bidding a collective farewell to the departing year, and expressing our joy and hope for the year ahead.

Most Americans during this time look to change their life around by formulating their New Year’s resolutions. The most famous resolutions have to do with health related issues such as quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress and drink less alcohol. Others have to do with improving one’s moral character such as working one’s anger, seeking to do good for others, and lead a more spiritual lifestyle.

Immigrants who have come to the United States often make a resolution to improve their education or enhance their English speaking and writing skills. They also vow to give their children the opportunities they never had back in their home country. New Year’s is a special American tradition with all races, ethnicities and cultures coming together and promising that this year will be better than last.

Whatever you thoughts are on this year’s American presidential politics, the amazing fact is that Democratic candidate Barack Obama is a serious contender for the most powerful seat in the world. Obama comes from humble ancestral roots. His father was a goat herder and a domestic servant for the British in Kenya. The last thought on his mind is that one day Barack Obama Jr. would become a household name and presidential material. Obama senior managed to receive a scholarship to the University of Hawaii. There he met Kansas resident Ann Durham in 1960 and soon married. Shortly afterward Ann gave birth to Barack Obama Jr.

Obama Jr. obtained in political science degree at Columbia University located in New York City and a J.D. from Harvard University Law School. He was the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. He decided to run as a state senator for Illinois in 1997 and used this as a stepping stone to run for the U.S. Senate Illinois in 2003. Obama was lagging behind the polls, but eventually took the seat and won by a landslide with 70% of the vote. He is currently the only African American U.S. Senator and the fifth one in American history.

No one knows at this stage of presidential political stage on whether or not Obama will win his party’s nomination, but he has proven that immigrant parents do not have to limit their vision of success for their children.

Apply for a U.S. green card today.

This chapter was taken out of the Immigration Bible by Zila Katz and Esq.Dotan Cohen, Adv. Get your copy today

See you in our next edition,

Tom Wright
Editor in Chief
GCUS PRESS