That’s OUR President!

I have never in my life bothered to watch a single snippet of an inauguration ceremony for a president, much less spend my entire day with a friend and a box of Kleenex doing so, but that is what I did yesterday.

Today I am adding www.whitehouse.gov to my links on the right, because this government OF the people, BY the people and FOR the people is already worth reading about.

It was a slightly sobering thought to realize that for the first time in my life, with this the 11th President under whom I have lived, I am older, by 2 years than the President of the United States. Yes, he’s one of our youngest presidents in history, but still.

I don’t know what this is all going to look like and I think a post I saw after the election by Garrison Keillor expressed it extremely well. He said:

“”A toast to the Obamas as they enjoy a brief, golden moment before beginning the grueling business of disappointing their followers, astonishing their enemies and doing what is right for our country.”

I’m still looking for my part to do. I am thinking that it is mainly in writing this blog, teaching IAM Meditation and The Work of Byron Katie and being available to people who believe themselves to be suffering and showing them a different way if they want one.

Peace of mind is ever-present. All we have to do is turn our attention in that direction.

Love, Ann

UDecide.org

 
If you have friends who are undecided, there is a lot on these 5 flyers, including voting records.
 
               http://www.udecide2008.com/         
 
 
As far as I can tell, all politicians are politicians – they have to have certain characteristics to want to be in that kind of work.  They know how to say what people want to hear. They know how to give and receive favors.  None of these qualities are, in themselves, “bad.”
No individual politician, not even the President, can single-handedly create or pass *anything*.  The Constitution, when honored, does a pretty good job of guaranteeing that decisions must come from a group.  Checks and balances.

So, no politician can guarantee that any specific policies or preferences will pass. That’s a Good Thing ™.
 
I read something recently that reminded me how differently we treat people when we define them as “other” instead of “one of us.” We all do that. It’s a survival mechanism. But we can also question it.
 
I hear that McCain is a former POW who was tortured. My decision to vote for Obama was made before I heard this, but this reinforced it. Many of you know I quit a job at Texas Instruments in about 1991 when I realized my work was supporting missile guidance for bombs.
 
You all know about my childhood sexual abuse.
 
So, you can imagine that I would not be likely to vote for someone who sounds more likely to be reactive and vengeful than proactive and forgiving.
 
‘Nuff said.
 
Please pass it on.
 
Hopefully, this will be my last politically-oriented post this year. This time next month, we will have elected a new President.

Love, Ann