I voted for you and was thrilled beyond words, like so many others, that you were elected.  I know you inherited a huge mess and expected it to get worse before better and be very difficult and time consuming to clean up.  Both my husband and I have been without steady work the entire year and I have remained patient and supportive as you began the clean up process.  But, the bailouts to the financial and auto industries just didn’t seem like good ideas, despite my trust in you.  What really kills me about the financial melt down is that your administration gave the biggest institutions billions and the thanks we the consumer got was higher interest rates, less access to credit, and a bunch of other things that make it Harder for us to break even, let alone build wealth.  And now I hear you have decided to send a lot more troops to Afghanistan.  I am starting to lose faith in your course, and that is depressing to even consider, because so many (millions) of us, put so much faith in the hope and change you represented.  What happened? I find it hard to believe, with our own country still in such rough shape, that there is any valid argument for putting more of OUR time/energy/money into fighting. Can you explain the truth to me, instead of the words the military machine seems to be putting in your mouth?

Sincerely,

Dorothy LaRue

Yes, money equals power, unfortunately, at this current blip on the path of human consciousness and it takes mind boggling amounts to get elected.  But, what really mattered in this election was our personal experiences.  Concerns about survival (good work, food, shelter, safety, and hope for the future) are affecting a majority of people on this planet, not just the poor and marginalized.  The fundamentals of human, and therefore planetary, life are in need of fresh approaches.

Jeph and I watched a recorded teaching by the Dalai Lama last night.  Much of the session focused on the history of Buddhism (names of places it was taught, teachers, and documents/sections of documents) and I didn’t absorb a lot of that.  What I took away is fairly basic: discourage anger and ignorance (not just the absence of knowledge but also the belief that your knowledge is right) and encourage emptiness (an awareness of the finiteness of material reality and the infinity of the soul.)

As I harness my new found hope for the future (yay!) and do my part to lead us in a positive direction, I will follow that guidance.

This is my reaction to the election results, which I shared with family and friends who I thought would relate.  There are other family and friends who I think would have preferred a different outcome and I hope we can work towards increased understanding and collaboration on all the goals and dreams we do share.

What a great gift we have been given, and it came when we Really Really need it!

Let’s all pick ourselves up off the floor where we’ve been crouching, dust off the fallout of 8 loooooooooooooong years, envision a country we can be proud of (and the world can respect) again, and DO SOME GOOD for each other, our communities, and the people and creatures across the globe who need and deserve to be raised up.

No politician/no human is perfect, and Obama is not a god, but he offers commitment to positive change and hope for a brighter future.  A class act, and what a classy first family!  How wonderful to be inspired by words that are spoken with eloquence and true passion.  I look forward to not turning off the tv or radio every time our administration speaks, but rather listening with interest.

“Two wars, a planet in peril, and the worst financial crisis in a century.”  Things are a mess all over.  It will probably get worse before it gets better.  The good stuff in life is rarely easy, though, and inspiring leadership along with actively engaged citizens will go along way towards guiding us on the journey.

I just jumped up and down and did some jumping jacks and it felt great.

Let’s cultivate kindness.  Let’s question reality.  Let’s write a good chapter.

I’m happy to be alive at this moment,

Dorothy