The World As It Should Be

Watching television during the last two weeks has been delightfully different from the regular season. It is not often during television viewing that I feel uplifted and inspired, as I did watching the many triumphs and heartbreaks of the Olympics… and watching Michelle Obama’s speech on Monday night.

Mrs. Obama spoke about how she came to understand her husband’s values as they got to know each other. She spoke warmly about her husband’s belief that we should not accept the world as it is. “He talked about the world as it is and the world as it should be. And he said that all too often we accept the distance between the two, and we settle for the world as it is, even when it doesn’t reflect our values and aspirations.” Mrs. Obama returned to this theme several times and each time her words reverberated as I thought about the mission of ACHMI and its genesis.

 

ACHMI was established in the belief that Alabama families deserve a better future. For years, Alabama has had one of the nation’s highest rates of divorce, child abuse, and unwed pregnancies. It doesn’t have to be this way! The research is clear that children in stable families benefit in all spheres: physical, social and emotional. But vision without action is merely a dream.

 

ACHMI combines the vision of a better future for all Alabama families with an action plan of marriage education/relationship classes and accessible resources. As staff, graduate students and community partners, we believe change is possible and research corroborates this. Empower women and men with the skills, resources and education to make life changes and they will. Alabamians want better lives for themselves and for their children. The dismal statistics that reflect the reality of too many Alabama children are not rooted in our soil but in relationship patterns than can be different. ACHMI is leading the way as we provide marriage education/relationship classes and accessible resources that will result in concrete changes for our most vulnerable citizens.

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Tags: Alabama, marriage initiative, michelle obama, Relationships, vision