May this remind us of why we are Democrats:
"A Quilted Life"
It is the broad and colorful fabricof each of our individual livesfrom which we define each of our own souls -but it is that Seam of Thread, found therein bound to others,narrow as it is, from which we gain real strength and meaning.And it is that threadso easily torn to which we must take careto sew strong, be chosen not for price or color,Always mend when Torn - For our own fabric alone will never keep us warm,but a quilted life - with the patchwork of other'sscrap cloth,though often faded, rarely of silk, sometimes cut fromtear-stained pillows - that will shield the draft and allowthe morning's cold to escape unnoticed.
brian campbell, 2005
My wife and I live in North Carolina and with hope for our generation's future and the future of that of our son's, we support Barack Obama and his vision. I have voted in every presidential election since 1984 - the first year I was old enough to vote. In that year and in every election since I have voted and voted for the Democratic nominee. It is a sacred act I enjoy when I recall that in the thousands of years of civilization, only a small percentage of this world's citizen's have been able to exercise that basic God given right. My most memorable election was that of the year 2000 when my first wife and I proudly voted for Al Gore. It was a rainy and cold night and my wife, though suffering from terminal breast cancer, and I stood in line in a rural polling spot where the number of republicans outnumbered Democrats by at least 10-to-1. We voted with hope and watched in the following days and weeks as the election was stolen from Al Gore. I still consider Albert Gore to be the legitimate President of the United States for that year. Though my first wife and I shared together all 8 progressive years of President Clinton, we realized that the world had suddenly changed with the Supreme Court's APPOINTMENT of president George W. Bush. Look around and tell me that that was not the worst decision in its history. My wife passed away from cancer in 2003 on June 6, exactly 35 years to-the-day after Senator Robert Francis Kennedy died form the guns of his assassins. With neither death was hope extinguished. My late wife told me as she was living her last weeks that she would want me to remarry and have a child. I did both and on September 9, 2005 my second wife and I gave birth to a son proudly named Robert Francis Campbell.We look at him and see hope for his generation. But we must look within ourselves as strong and proud Democrats to build on that hope and bring real change for our nation and elect a leader capable of realizing that change - Barack Obama.I recall my first wife telling the story of a young Presidential candidate visiting near her home-town of Charleston, WV in 1960. She was a young school-girl, poor, wearing a print-dress, and with little hope for a happy future. But she recalled this finely-dressed, articulate, 43 year-old man standing on a mining tractor with the audience embracing his vision as he embraced their economic struggle. Until that primary election in 1960, that young candidate had never witnessed such poverty on American soil. Biographers note that it made a lasting impression on both him and his younger brother Bob. That candidate was then Senator John F. Kennedy who went on to win the West Virginia primary and become President.That is the beauty of inclusion of the Democratic Party and Barack Obama shares in not only the benefits of those who came before him, but also is willing and capable to serve as "the torch is passed to a new generation of Americans". I urge you to knock on North Carolina doors from Rocky Mount to Gastonia, from Wilmington to Cherokee, from Hamlet to Walnut Cove. For if everyone who will benefit from an Obama Presidency will vote for him and Sen. Biden, this will be our next administration. You owe it to your children and grandchildren.Thank You,David Brian Campbell
