Happy New President Day!

By Adam Valvasori - Values Manager
via whitehouse.gov: Image of the first family volunteering in Washington yesterday.

I'm one of the tragics that got up at 3am this morning to watch the inauguration of the 44th President Barrack Hussein Obama. I'm so very impressed and so hopeful. The world can always change for the better but only with great leadership.

Read the transcript or watch the inaugural speech here. My optimism is bolstered by President Obama's emphasis on individual responsibility to action to better our local and global community. I also really like what he did and said yesterday:

via whitehouse.gov:

Yesterday, with Washington and the country eagerly awaiting the Inauguration, President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and their families spent the day honoring the memory of Martin Luther King Jr. by serving others. After spending the morning with wounded soldiers at the Walter Reed Medical Center, President Obama traveled to the Sasha Bruce Youthwork shelter for homeless teens in Northeast Washington where he helped renovate "safe space" housing.

After leaving the shelter, the President and Mrs. Obama attended a reception with volunteers at Coolidge Senior High School, where President Obama spoke about the challenges ahead and how every one person can contribute to fighting them.

"Dr. King taught us that we could no longer view our own day-to-day cares and responsibilities as somehow separate from what was happening in the wider world that we read about in the newspaper and saw on TV," the President said at the reception.

...

Ask anyone working at The Body Shop Australia how important and how much we enjoy serving the ideal of a better world. We do this in many ways including, the ethics of our supply chain, our public social and environmental 'values campaigns' and our Community Projects (volunteering activities for NGOs in each store's local community).

It's what makes our jobs special and our company great. We are by no means just in it for the money. Whether it's being greener or more ethical, we hope other businesses are inspired by today's presidential buzz and take more responsibility and action to become better global corporate citizens. No one's perfect, including us, but I think the most important thing is the will and determination to try harder.