Wednesday, January 21, 2009

The Morning After

There's got to be a morning after If we can hold on through the night We have a chance to find the sunshine Let's keep on looking for the light. -
Oh, can't you see the morning after?
It's waiting right outside the storm
Why don't we cross the bridge together
And find a place that's safe and warm.
-
It's not too late, we should be giving
Only with love can we climb
It's not too late, not while we're living
Let's put our hands out in time.
-
There's got to be a morning after
We're moving closer to the shore
I know we'll be there by tomorrow
And we'll escape the darkness
We won't be searching anymore.
-lyrics by Maureen McGovern
I know that it's a bright morning after for many folks, that is if you didn't party hard into the night. My mind is full and muddled.
I heard from some of you that you were unhappy with the treatment of President Bush and his wife and associates. I didn't see any coverage of that behavior on the three or four stations I was monitoring. If I had, it would have made me squirm and wince. I've never liked to see people hurt or humiliated. I don't like rubbing salt in any one's wounds. As it was I thought of the former president as our new president spoke. Obama's words were true, but they must have hurt.
President Obama is the kind of man who will want to stay positive and move ahead. He doesn't want to dwell on the past. He is not interested in fixing blame. That's all good with me.
Here's my problem. While we don't need to dwell on the past, we do need to deal with the past. While we may not need to fix blame on individuals, we do have a lot if fixing to do, and in order to do that we have to examine what's broken and how it got broken. We have to learn from the past.
I am a glass half empty sort of person. Some say pessimist: I say realist. I always figure I'd rather be pleasantly surprised than bitterly disappointed. But you see the headlines above. You see the song lyrics I posted. I'm working on it.

10 comments:

  1. here's to more hope in your life in the journey to become an optimist....

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  2. We were listening to MSNBC and my two daughters picked up on it right away. Each said do you hear that Mom? They are chanting like some high school students do when they know they have won the basketball game: nah, nah, nah, nah,hey, hey, hey, goodby. We thought it was a slam at the presidency as well as Bush. Mean spririted and very juvenile.

    But I learned on TV today that other than that booing scene the inauguration was a great success. Few missing people, few sick or injured folks and no riots. And the metro system (both bus and subway) handled about 2 million people. Now that is something to cheer about.

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  3. I saw nor heard of any negative feedback to George W, and I thought Pres. Obama was more than gracious to him.

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  4. I haven't heard the negative feedback, either. I do think Obama spoke of the things he will do and that includes undoing a lot of things that Bush did -- so what was he going to do, give a different speech while Bush was present and then re-do it after Bush was gone? I don't like to see people being deliberately mean to the loser, but after the last eight years, most people have had more than enough and it's hard not to be a little nasty right back at the people who have had no feelings for the majority of US citizens.

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  5. The Bushes were so gracious to the Obamas. I did hear that there was some cheering as Bush left. We need to move away from that kind of pettiness, and President Obama (I do love to say that)has very emphatically pointed us in the right direction.

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  6. I think we need to learn from the past in order to change it..and yes we can change it...

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  7. The best thing we can do to help the Obama presidency is remain positive. If we let the negative drag us down we'll be right back where we were. I was appalled the way the Bushes were treated by bystanders.

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  8. I just say I have a half glass, and leave the fullness or emptiness to others...sometimes a half glass warrants an action, sometimes it doesn't. when it does, it has to be dealt with.

    In Japan, if you don't want the action of more in your glass, you just don't drink what you've got to begin with. Just a tidbit of culture here...

    I'm still intoxicated by having this lovely first family in the white house. Cheers!

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  9. Very philosophical Linda. I guess many people feel the same way. - Dave

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