The Ship of State

   In January 2009 while the the new President was being sworn into office, a group of men met secretly to devise plans to insure that this Presidency would fail.  The Minority Leader of the Senate publicly stated his main goal was to make President Barak Obama a one term President.  

   After the Congressional election of 2010 a newly elected Republican representative called the President a “Liar” during the President’s State of the Union address.  The Republican Majority Leader of the House shouted, “Hell no, You can’t!”  while the Republican members and a few Democrats voted NO, and the Senate used the filibuster to defeat, derail or block any Administration proposal.  These decisions and actions were made deliberately in violation of the oath they took before assuming office and, to some degree, an undermining of the Nation’s ability to function effectively.  (In a military setting they might have been tried for treason.)  The newly elected President was vilified in the media by his enemies, who by innuendo and lies, questioned his citizenship, religion and loyalty.  In this corrosive atmosphere of hate and rejection the President has survived.

   I neither applaud nor condemn the President; nor do I believe, should he be re-elected to a second term, that he will bring peace, prosperity and justice to our sick society.  History is a witness that all meaningful change emanates from the bottom to the top.  It has always been the people who have moved this nation forward; that small minority of citizens who were persecuted, imprisoned and often killed as they stood up, sat down and marched to right a perceived wrong.  These few among the many are the root of the tree of justice.  They will be the wind which moves this nation forward.  The President is the Captain of the Ship of State, but not even the Captain can control the wind.  

   Therefore, let it not be said by those generations who may follow us that we did not speak out, stand up and march within the true context of non-violence to correct a wrong and seek to define the right.  President Barak Obama, you once stated “…It was your sacred duty to protect the people of the United States…”.  Since I believe that all the people on this planet are One, I hope you extend this oath to mean the protection of all life on the planet.  It is not our military might that will protect us in the long haul, but our desire and action to be cognizant of the poor, the hungry and homeless – the wretched and hopeless.  Is not compassion and love the foundation of any lasting peace?  Has it not been written, and here also history is a witness –

     “…PUT UP AGAIN THY SWORD INTO HIS PLACE: FOR ALL THEY THAT TAKE THE SWORD, SHALL PERISH WITH THE SWORD…”  MATTHEW 26:52

PEACE AND ABOVE ALL – UNDERSTANDING

Written to honor the victims of hate