this is about me

Seems this last week strife and conflict has erupted all around me. A friend of mine lost his job, several people at work are bent out of shape, there are pastor/parish conflicts where I attend church and since the Republican convention the tone of the presidential campaign is about anything but the issues.

Often when these kind of things have cropped up around the outskirts of my life I have wondered what to do. How do I effect change? How do I resolve conflict? When do I stand back, when do I step up? Most things I've learned are beyond my control. Most of the time the best thing I can do is bear witness, pray, and live in compassion. Most of the time I am okay with this, understanding that my ability to send love, compassion, and hope to a situation is the way I best serve it. And that is what I will do, except in this one case. Barack Obama.

I am going to work the call centers for Obama, and in fact, today have been calling people in his Neighbor to Neighbor program. For the past two presidential elections I have voted, I have prayed, I have put bumper stickers on my car and endured people driving by shouting obscenities at me, and I have sent money. In the two prior presidential elections I have been disappointed by the outcome. I do not want the same thing to happen again. Obama is right. This is not about him. This is about me.

I want a country my grandson's can grow up in and be free to express their opinions, disagree, without someone else shouting them down and calling them names. I want a country where every family can have a doctor and every child is provided the best health care available. I want a country where people can earn a decent wage for an honest days work. I want to live in a country that realizes we must love out neighbor as ourselves regardless of his faith, age, nationality, color of his skin, or sexual preference, and find a way to live and flourish while remaining constant to that golden rule. I want to live in a country where being educated, innovative and thoughtful are not only valued, but considered essential. I want a country that looks beyond the moment and considers the future when it makes decisions on the environment, military action, and social reform. I want a country that cherishes values but understands that core values can be nurtured in diverse beliefs.

I believe that Barack Obama would stand with me on these issues, that he would listen, that he would refine what I have only roughed out. His opponent would not.

I don't expect a free ride. I don't think these things will be easily come by. I think it will take years of hard work and no little sacrifice to make all I can see for this country, for my grandchildren, happen. But I believe the American people are equal to the task if we tell them the truth. If we explain the steps we need to take to get from here to there. I am done with fear and manipulation. We are a great nation only when we think great thoughts. The time is now. We have waited nearly too long as it is.

My sister told me Obama needs to get tough and attack back and I asked her if that is really what we want from him. Win at any cost? Win even if you have to hit as low as your opponent? I don't know. I don't think we really win when we play their dirty games.

But this is important. Too much is at stake to let this election slip through our fingers. I have to stand up and do what I can.