Dear Mr. President

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Dear Mr. President:

As I watched and read your eulogy of Nelson Mandela, I strange feeling came over me. I realized that I was crying and that I was feeling proud to be an American, proud that my President was standing there in that stadium saying the things that you were saying about Nelson Mandela and by extension Humanity because Nelson Mandela, like those before him whom you named, was first and foremost simply a man, a human being. He was a living example of what it means to be a  human being, of what anyone of us can be regardless of our place on the planet.

It was so refreshing to hear you extend the principles upon which our country was founded, and is still based, to all of humanity, to the One Humanity. By doing this you aligned and identified us with all people in the world who strive for what we have, freedom, liberty, justice, and the opportunity, as you put it, to work hard and to achieve a decent living for one's family.

This speech signaled to the world a major shift in the direction of our vision. We know that it was not the first time that you have so signaled, or that such a speech has been made by one of our previous Presidents or great leaders. However, as we have seen, over the past 55 years in particular, such signals have to be given over and over for there are still many who consciously resist, and many others who are simply heart blind and deaf to the expansion of the concept of Democracy and the appreciation of our indivisibility both from each other and the Planet.

I think that through making this speech, you helped release the energy that was Nelson Mandela, the energy that made of him a messenger, a forerunner, a way shower, and hero into the hearts and minds of many, many of our sisters and brothers. Watch for the results.

I thank you for that.

lots of love

-tom