The day that I have long dreamed of finally arrived, and I find myself woefully short of things to say. For years, I have awaited the time when my country would no longer violate the laws of morality, science, common sense or even the laws of the country itself in the wrongheaded pursuit of political expediency.
I felt so high when Obama defeated "Ready!, Fire!, Aim!" McCain. With a resounding voice the nation declared that they were ready for a President who could think in sophisticated terms and who expects us to do so as well. All Presidents promise the impossible. For the first time in my life, we elected a President who emphasized the hard work needed to create the impossible.
I believe there is a saying "When the time is right, the man comes forth". As much as our country would have been better off without Bush for the last four years, we were not ready to face the truths we needed to face. We seem to be there now, but I worry that the hole we have dug is too deep. Even if Obama is the chronologically and biologically miraculous offspring of Franklin Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, which he often appears to be, the tasks seem so daunting.
How do you restore fiscal sanity when the economic wreck requires more spending?
How do you rescue a global climate that already seems past the tipping point?
How do you undo the damage done to our name and in our name in the world?
How long will the public support last? With the events of Tuesday and the acclaim, anything less than unparalleled excellence will be seen as a disappointment. But anything less than twice that level of excellence may not be enough.
I should be flying high as Obama has already made great decisions as President to reverse the previous path. Why do I still feel so scared?
Last Book Read:
This was a birthday gift from the SHW, though I had to wait until she was done reading and laughing hysterically at it. I guess the added anticipation was part of the present.
The author attempts to spend a year following all the rules of the Bible. Amusement and insight follow.
The most impressive aspect is how he manages to avoid the easy shots. While the incongruity of some rules with modern life create humor, he is usually respectful to the history and to the people who genuinely believe it. (The second most impressive aspect is that his wife is still married to him at the end of the year.)
As I learned from reading Karen Armstrong's books, ritual is important for its own sake. It doesn't matter if the ritual is eating an injection molded bread-like disk or calculating the minimum distance along the surface of a sphere between two locations. The point is that sharing a ritual helps create a community and provides an opportunity for an individual to see oneself as part of something greater.
This was a pretty good book, though I would probably recommend using the library. It does make me want to check out his previous book where he reads the Encyclopedia Britannica from cover to cover.
1 comment:
I think we all do.
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