A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins With the First Step
The majority of those opposed to Obama winning the award are not anti Obama so much as they question the selection committees' timing. Premature is the word most associated with those who question the judges' judgment. Clearly it depends on one's perspective as to how the process that potentially results in peace comes about. Between any noble idea and its realization is a continuum of incremental steps. The idea of peace is a universal goal for most people who share the common ethic of live and let live. Doesn't everyone share that ethic? Of course we know that the answer to this question is a resounding no. Unfortunately for man and woman kind there have always been and perhaps will always be those twisted, brutish, bullies who know how to grab power and sustain it - often by declaring war on a projected enemy. These so called 'leaders' appear to be clones of each other - karmically joined at their political hips - schooled in the same university - majoring in the same courses in sadistic rule by fear and intimidation - always knowing who to choose to fill the ranks of their legions of henchmen who apparently love to make war as if it was a blood sport - ... And once unleashed war begets war and the cycle of revenge sweeps everyone near the circle of destruct ion into its orbit until both sides eventually get exhausted or one side prevails and peace breaks out - for a while - until the cycle starts up once again - And in the middle of this collective insanity are the innocent who are always too ill, or too poor, or too untrained to be able to adequately protect themselves. These people are the legions of displaced, starved, tented, pushed around, the fodder for all sorts of unspeakable crimes against humanity - who when beaten down enough - completely lose their spirit and sink into apathy, helplessness and hopelessness. But they do have one potential weapon which if realized could inevitably run the oppressors out of town so to speak.... This weapon is their potential unity of purpose - their collective yearning for peace. But to get them to the point where they will collectively rise up and be heard making their power felt - their spirit has to be re-ignited... They have to be inspired - they have to experience hope... Segue to Obama - Every so often in world history there is a voice that resonates with the majority of peace loving human beings setting fire to their lost spark of hope - Once re - lit this spark has a way of creating mass movements. President Obama has that voice - and is using it effectively. In only nine months he has managed to undo the great damage done by our last bush-league administration - breathing fresh air into a poisonous atmosphere - talking real talk: direct - candid - frank - honest - truthful talk - that is igniting the spirit of multitudes of the worlds' most oppressed people. The President himself understands all too well that this prize is a call for futher dedication along the road to peace of which he has made a spectacular beginning. In his campaigne he indicated that if elected he would set to do nothing less than help to change the world - In my opinion he is on course to doing exactly what he said he wanted to do. In my opinion, the choice for the peace prize at this particualr time could not have gone to a more deserving recipient. -----Original Message----- From: iam deheretic <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sat, Oct 10, 2009 5:09 pm Subject: [Mind's Eye] Re: Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize he has my support and prayers Allan On Sat, Oct 10, 2009 at 10:34 PM, gruff <[email protected]> wrote: The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded annually "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses." I have to ask, Mr. Johnson, why do you only highlight what are even questionable undeserving recipients? Why do you point up only the negative? Is it your purpose to defeat anything good? At times your writing sounds like it? But that's all right. I'll counterbalance. Among the more notable winners in the 114 years history of the Nobel prize are the following: Theodore Roosevelt Louis Renault Woodrow Wilson Frank B. Kellogg Jane Addams (Not so ironically, the committee awarded no peace prize in 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942 and 1943. The award in 1944 was given to the International Red Cross.) Cordell Hull Albert Schweitzer Dag Hammarskjöld Linus Carl Pauling Martin Luther King, Jr. Henry A. Kissinger Lê Ðuc Tho (refused award) Mohamed Anwar Al-Sadat Menachem Begin Mother Teresa Lech Wałęsa Desmond Mpilo Tutu The 14th Dalai Lama Desmond Mpilo Tutu Nelson Mandela Frederik Willem de Klerk Yitzhak Rabin Shimon Peres Jody Williams Kofi Annan Shirin Ebadi Mohamed ElBaradei Al Gore According to the Nobel committee Barack Obama Was awarded the Peace prize "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." No one can deny his efforts and he may win it again for his future successes in this goal. It is my hope and belief that he will achieve these goals. On Oct 9, 5:27 am, Don Johnson <[email protected]> wrote: > Picked with a two week resume, he joins the Nobel club with such > luminaries as Jimmy Carter and Yassir Arafat. How fitting. Dividends > from the World Apology Tour '09. > > Time to expand on that Ignobel list Archy. > > dj -- ( ) I_D Allan --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/minds-eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
