Dear Friends (and friends of friends),
As we all begin to focus more closely on the first three now completed years of President Obama’s presidency, the following poem seems to present an appropriate theme for what we have seen, and experienced with our President.
SOMETIMES
Sometimes things don’t go, after all,
From bad to worse. Some years, muscadel
faces down frost; green thrives; the crops don’t fail,
sometimes a man aims high, and all goes well.
A people sometimes will step back from war;
elect an honest man; decide they care
enough, that they can’t leave some stranger poor.
Some men become what they were born for.
Sometimes our best efforts do not go
Amiss; sometimes we do as we meant to.
The sun will sometimes melt a field of sorrow
that seemed hard frozen; may it happen for you.
(Anonymous by request)
And it has happened to you, and me, and all of us these past three years. We elected an honest man November three years ago. We stepped back from war. The man, indeed the nation aimed high. We passed laws that improved things: that provided better and less costly health care for our nation; that stopped discrimination against women in pay, and health services; that strengthened the rules for financial dealings; that put millions back to work; that saved an auto industry from collapse; that saved our financial system from collapse; that changed and improved our schools; that brought down a tyrant; that gave hope and change to millions living under tyranny.
He stopped torture. He honored all religious faiths. He obeyed the law. He appointed thousands of selfless and talented public servants who also obeyed the law. He governed with integrity, transparency, fidelity to the Constitution, and with good humor and quiet aplomb. He told the truth.
Some men indeed become what they were born for. Our president fits that description. A natural leader. Born in unconventional circumstances, raised in multi-cultural lands, educated in challenging surroundings, excelling in all he has pursued. Caring enough so as to reach out to strangers, poor and in need. Asking us to do the same. And things have not gone from bad to worse. We have done as we meant to. We have changed, not all of us perhaps, but many, perhaps most. We try to speak more respectfully, we try to listen more attentively, we prepare more thoroughly. We do adult things in adult ways.
Our crops have not failed. Our green things hold renewed hope for thriving. Sometimes, this time, the hard frozen fields have begun to melt. Good will, compassion sometimes, this time, has won out.
Warm regards,
John
