The World is Celebrating

The World is celebrating. I woke up this morning feeling a renewed hope in not only America but for the entire world. Images are flooding in from all over the world of people hugging and smiling.

Americans not celebrating today need to understand that many of us see ourselves as planetary citizens. We want all the people on our planet to thrive and grow. We want our planet to survive. We want happiness to spread. We care deeply about our country but we want to see it as offering solutions rather than adding to problems.

We now stand on the threshold of a renewed moral imperative. We believe that Barack Obama will reach out to a world that has yearned for us to come to our senses.

We have been looking for enemies everywhere. And the more we have looked through this distorted lens of tough guy with the huge tree-trunk sized stick, not walking but stamping on the ground, the more we have unwittingly contributed to the growth of our enemies.

Our greatest commodity can once again be our spirit. Within us is vitality and goodwill. We have the potential to make our economy strong again, this time in a way that serves the needs of more Americans than ever before. We have a vast military that we can rededicate to serve peace and not as a threat. We must announce to the world a promise that we will not be the first to use nuclear weapons. We must downsize our military budget so that it is remains by far the largest and most effective force in the world but not as large as the entire world combined!

We must be willing to reach out, to take the high road as we used to. Then the world will follow us again and the United States will not be a poster child for terrorist recruitment.

We must be willing to talk to our enemies. The result will be that we will again be on good standing with our neighbors and those that choose terror will be increasingly isolated from the world community.

We all want the same thing. As John Lennon said: “give peace a chance.”