Wednesday, November 5, 2008

One Child Left Behind

Dear Friends and Family,

I don’t know about you, but recently I find myself vacillating more and more between hope and depression, between a sense that we as families and friends, as a nation and as a people, that we have the power and compassion and drive to make things better. That maybe universal health care, nano and solar energy, recycling, sustainable growth and peaceful relations with our neighbors are right around the corner. And that maybe this next election will bring change we can believe in. But then I watch an hour too much of the CNN or read an article too many in the Times and things start to seem really gloomy. I think how we’ve gotten ourselves into a couple of wars, a colossal debt, a recession, how we’ve lost most of our allies, our direction as a nation, Ossama Bin Laden and our sense of responsibility for the tired, poor and huddled masses knocking on our doors. I think how we have an expensive and completely useless arsenal of nuclear bombs and continue to spend more on our military then any other nation in the world, in fact, then several of the most important ones put together and yet still have problems properly equipping and caring for the men and women who join it. Meanwhile the middle class is shrinking, fanaticism is up, tolerance is down, and oil companies are making record profits while teachers and artists are working part-time jobs to make ends meet. And when I think about all this, then I think there ain’t much hope and that this time the ‘you know what’ is really in the air and on it’s way towards the fan.

Now don’t get me wrong, like so many other Americans I have been inspired and engaged like never before by the presidential campaign. I’m proud that I live in a country where a minority or woman can run for the highest office. And I’m even more proud that someone who speaks intelligently, compassionately, thoughtfully and sometimes even inspirationally is once again who we are considering as the type of person we want to lead our country. But I’m scared, too. By the polls, by the reactions, by the lipstick news media, selfishness and consumerism that keeps everyone thinking they have to please a lowest common denominator which may or may not even exist, and even if it does doesn’t anyone believe in the power of pulling people up by giving them not what you think they want but what you think they need? And isn’t it foolish of me to think that anything will change after the election? Won’t these election promises turn out, as usual and once again, to be just that? Once shame on you, but twice shame on me, right?

So as we get into the nitty gritty of how we are actually going to do any of these great ideas, or just forget about them all and focus on having enough cash to buy a new widescreen plasma HDTV with a 100 channels of complete crap, I steel myself for a post-election let down, the slump after the bump, the purge after the surge.

In the moments when my mood and emotions aren’t screaming in my ears at the extremes of hope or depression, I do take solace in one thing. One thing that I can count on. One great relief. And that is that no matter what happens, we will no longer have a ridiculous monkey-child leading our country. So, today I raise a glass to you my dear friends and family, pointed to an uncertain future with a mixture of hope and fear, but with a loud and long sigh of relief for the thought that on November 5th, 2008 we will be a nation with “One Child Left Behind”…


-Kevin


From the Heart,

Kevin Lapin
"Appreciate beauty in all its forms."
"Get stuck in there!"

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