What are people thinking??

I feel like my last few posts have been about President Obama. Well, this is another one. Actually one that’s been on the burner for a while – so can we talk?

Nobel Peace Prize.
Does a young president (meaning only in office for less than 10 months) deserve it?
Hmmm, if I’m 100% honest – no. He hasn’t found a cure for our health care reform - even if it passed the senate - barely, it still has the house to contend with; he hasn’t saved the lives of those who are fighting the war (either abroad or in their own backyard). He hasn’t yet been able to calm the fraction between any of the Middle East countries or rival gangs in East L.A. But to ask has the prize diminished, you know, lost it’s shine, I don’t believe it has.

The five-member Norwegian committee voted for him just weeks after he became President - did you know that?? It seems they based their decision on Obama’s “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples, as well as his diplomacy and curbing nuclear weapons.” Now, was this a swipe at the former administration – perhaps? Maybe it’s just because like so many people forget, President Obama has ONLY been president for 11 months (now) but because of the lengthy campaign, it seems he’s been in office longer. Look, even he was surprised.

Is President Obama, at this point compared to Mahatma Gandhi, Pope John Paul II, even Al Gore? No but he is, a man who listens and uses a thoughtful approach. Maybe this award will do well in keeping him humble and always focused on the word “PEACE”. In the end the prize will be for us all.


When will the Military listen? Was Ft. Hood loud enough?
This past week there was a horrific rampage at Ft. Hood in Texas. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a Arlington, Va born Army psychiatrist fatally shot and killed 13 (to date) and wounded about 38 others. Why? Some speculate it was because he no longer wanted to be in the army. Some will say because “he said he was a Muslim first and an American second”, even thought he was born in the US. Some might even say that even though he was a Major, the anti-Muslim sentiments were too much, even for this trained psychiatrist. It seems that a former Fort Hood colleague found out he was Muslim and ripped of his “I heart Allah” bumper sticker and did additional damage to his car. Maybe as a human, he just couldn’t deal anymore. After all, he is Human first, Muslim second.

I’m not going to go on a rant about “gun laws”, and the “right be bear arms” and how folks in Tx. will drive with rifles on their dash-board because that’s their constitutional right. Don’t get me started!! I don’t know how we citizens, can feel safe on the streets of Boston, NY, LA or Iowa when our soldiers can’t be safe on their own home base. What I’m hoping is that people take this for what it was. A very sad, sick and misguided person, who asked repeatedly to be released from his service and was ignored. Maybe they should have listened. The news reported last night that they "had him under observation"...does that mean they have all Muslims under observation or just him because he asked to be released? I hope people don’t see this and become wary of every person who is Muslim (or black, or spanish, or just...different from themselves); people don't walk around with a six-shooter or bomb strapped to their body. Not every terrorist looks like “one of those”. How do I know this…“Timothy McVeigh”.

No I don’t know what you go through as a person in the military. I’ve dated a solider who graduated West Point, I have loved a member of the Air Force. I've had uncles who have fought in the wars, and cousins who are presently fighting. I have been concerned for those I don’t know, because they are in harms way. Some people choose the military to help with their education; others because they are fighting for something they believed in. They know the risks of enemy territory – I just don’t think the soldiers of Ft. Hood thought that territory was in their own backdoor. May G-d grant their souls rest and their families peace.