The Consciousness and Conscience of Humanity
Our President has been traveling in the land of the Pharaohs and into the heart of Europe.
His efforts and visibility are unprecedented in presidential history.
But you can't please all people all of the time.
No matter how modern this President, no matter how mindful he is of our current conflicts and those of the past... he cannot win.
Today marks the 65th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy. Some critics are saying Obama "snubbed" our European allies by going to Egypt first during this period of remembering our nation's "Greatest Generation."
Still others criticize him for being candid. Open. *Honest.*
Why can people not view his travels as a way to draw a sharp comparison between the present-day wars, driven by ethnic and ideological hatred, to those of the past?
Are our allies only to be those in the West?
Why can we not bridge canyons of cultural differences and millenia of bloodshed to close the distance between all that divides us?
I keep thinking: have we really come so far?
As a species, Homo Sapiens Sapiens has accomplished so much.
We've mapped the surface of the Earth with almost micro-millimetric precision.
We have sent our technology to the distant stretches of our local solar system.
We have walked on the moon and seen pictures of the russet, arid, Martian landscape.
We have found life finding its way in the harshest and darkest places in the depths of the oceans.
We have cured diseases, harnessed the elements for power, created masterpieces in the Arts and Humanities.
But we still have not learned to stop killing each other.
*We still have not learned, as a species, that nothing good ever comes from killing.*
Perhaps that is the message that our President is trying to convey.
We still have a long way to go. If we cannot learn to live together, we will die together.
But he still believes that we can live together, that there are many who work toward peace despite the pessimism of mistrust.
He believes we can be mindful and purposeful in our actions toward others.
And that there is hope that we may one day (soon) stop blaming *them* for what is hindering us from being a species with common purposes, one promise of greatness, uniting all people on Earth.
13 comments:
As a seemingly sweet old lady in a report on the "Minutemen" movement said, in a message to illegal aliens: "I don't go to your country, so don't come to mine...." We actually live in a country where Senators take pride in not having a passport, or ever having one. For that matter, I've met fellow citizens who seemed disapproving when I mentioned traveling in Europe.
As such, it's not surprising that a certain section of the population continues to freak out so much about a president who not only has dark skin, but is the son of an African Muslim, spent a significant part of his childhood in Indonesia (it was Indonesia, right? I'm too lazy to google right now), and, worst of all, is named Barack Hussein Obama. To me the greatest thing about Obama's election was that it signaled that a majority of the voting population was not afraid of being part of a multicultural, multiracial global society, which does make me very hopeful...but it sure ain't gonna happen without a fight....
I think it takes real nerve for people to criticize his attempts at creating peace, personally.
What can I say? Hope for the future swelled within me when I heard the speech and I once again teared up listening to Barack Obama.
But I still clap for fairies, too.
I think that you hit it on the head. You can't please everyone, and those who are his most ardent critics are the least likely to view anything he does with approval.
I don't know how I feel about his timing--personally speaking. I can understand the issues raised as far as D-Day goes. That being said, things are deteriorating in the Near East. Pakistan is in an uproar, Iran has been rattling its sabor for quite some time. Iraq still has serious issues and Afghanistan is sliding backwards into Religious Extremisim everyday in some regions. Maybe he observed that even though this would conflict with D-Day observances that he needed to see to the part of the world where we NEED allies, and not concentrate on those allies that we already have. If he could do something to soothe tensions in that part of the world, it is possible that Europe would benefit from that as well.
I for one would like to see an end to bombings in train stations and on buses, and in discos, and no more repeats of Lockerby, or the Twin Towers.
He can't fix the relationships between Muslims in Europe with those dominant cultures, but he can work with leaders in Muslim countries.
Maybe he missed this D-day observance so that we wouldnt have to have another D-Day somewhere in the Near East.
As always, well written and very thought provoking, Skye.
Thanks.
Wow. I have never heard it put quite like this, but I have thought these things, too. I tend to think there are more people like you and me (and those who frequent this blog) out there than we know.
You always give me something to chew on skyewriter. I like the idea that a higher power isn't something out there, but is something that is in us, made by us. Gives a whole new meaning to the idea of free will and power of intention.
He's the best presidential speaker I've ever heard, and that includes JFK. And I think Michelle is even better. In fact she's the one who won me over a couple years ago when Larry King interviewed her.
Whether Obama is going to be able to live up to his promises enough is going to take some tome to determine. I'm keeping my fingers crossed in the meantime.
The right loves this country like a child loves his/her mom, she can do no wrong and she can do anything in the child's eyes. It's cute and serves its purpose, but it's not the whole story. The left loves this country the way an adult loves another adult. We see the greatness and the faults, and while we praise the great things we point out the faults so that we can become even greater.
He was brilliant as usual, and you wrote about it eloquently as usual..........
You are so right.
Mankind has done so much to improve the lives of people on this blue marble, and have sent messages to the ends of the universe....but we can't even get along without trying to kill each other.
Mankind isn't so smart after all...in fact, he is dumber than most of the animal kingdom.
I totally agree. Bush had this macho, bellicose, knee-jerk reaction and did not have the capacity to even contemplate being peaceful with other countries and peoples. Obama is mature, calm, peaceful in himself...just what our country and the world needs...someone who can demonstrate what is possible within himself and his family and what is possible for us all.
Imagine a world in which violence can be averted...I like it.
But, you know, it doesn't matter, if Obama had gone to Normandy instead he would have been guilty of something else. Hmmm, like visiting Europe while tensions increase elsewehere...
Post a Comment