Dona Nobis Pacem

My copy of the oxford essential dictionary defines peace as: 1a. quiet, tranquillity. b. mental calm, serenity 2 freedom from or the sessation of war 3 freedom for civil disorder



My Dad served twenty five years in the United States Navy. It's fair to say that he spent most of his time there as fairly conservative. He voted for Ronald Regan and the first George Bush. But one thing I remember how much he despised the current Bush. He would get so worked up when his name came up. And the main reason....was the war that Bush brought us into. My Dad wasn't the crying type. I can count on one hand the times I've seen him cry and have fingers left over, but when he started talking about the kids that were being sent over to Iraq to fight in Bush's war he would get so upset he would cry. He felt so bad for those that were being sent into harm's way. I wish he had lived to see a new President elected, one that intended to get us out of Iraq.



I spent election night up at Tennessee with my Mom. Now my Mom has never been into politics. If the subject comes up she would normally just move past it. But we sat there Tuesday night, watching the results for the Presidency come in without once leaving our seats. We would flip between CNN and CBS, watching the slightly different results each station would get. We'd see one channel hadn't called certain states for McCain yet, giving Obama a larger lead and we'd say we liked that channel better. I was amazed at how involved my Mom was in the election and how much she was pulling for Barrack Obama. My Mom was born and raised in the country in the South. She's not racist but she isn't completely free of the attitudes and prejudices she was raised with. She's did her best not to raise her children with those attitudes and prejudices. So it was so wonderful to see her championing a black man on to be our next President. Even more so when pretty much all her family around her was pulling for McCain, all her sisters and brothers looked at Obama and saw someone that they did not want for President.



This country is so divided over so many issues. Blacks and Whites. Republicans and Democrats. Hawks and Doves. But I'm hopeful with this election maybe we've taken a step closer to uniting us despite our differences. There's nothing wrong with disagreeing, it helps us see both sides of an issue. But in today's world to disagree means you have to tear the other side down, make them into a monster, label them things that they're not. I think that was one of the reasons that lead to McCain's lose. He was so negative, he tried to paint Obama as a terrorist, a monster, a mad liberal; when it was hard to see that with the Obama that we watched on television and listened to in interviews. I think, I hope, that we are getting tired of that type of politics, maybe it's time to embrace a politics that isn't so mean spirited.

The world was watching our election and most of it rejoiced in our selection. They see our selection not as someone they think will be weak, but as someone that will respect other's viewpoint and be a true champion for peace throughout the world and not a bully that takes what it wants without regard for other nations.

To all the peoples of the world, I once more give expression to America's prayful and continuing aspiration: We Pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations, may have their great human needs satisfied; that those now denied opportunity shall come to enjoy it to the full; that all who yearn for freedom will understand also its heavy responsibilities; that all who are insensitive to the needs of others will learn charity; that the scourges of poverty, disease, and ignorance will be made to disappear from the earth; and that, in the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and love.
- Dwight D. Eisnehower

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