Author note: I was inspired to write this letter while creating an original music video with my singer/songwriter partner, Bentley Kalaway. We Are The Ones-Obama Speech Remix integrates the sentiment of Bentley's original song and the passion of Barack Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.
Dear Mom & Dad,This November 4th we’ll be making a choice regarding the future of America. Once again we have an opportunity to redefine the leadership role America plays in the world. The challenges we face as a nation, in a world of diverse peoples, demands that we celebrate our diversity and harness the abundant energy that is released when we work together toward the common good. This is a mission I’ve been well trained for. As parents, you taught me to see the best in people, to wish for their highest good, to respect my elders, to be chivalrous and kind, to say “yes sir” and “thank you”.My most vivid memory of a lesson in compassion was when dad saw an elderly man who had slipped on an icy sidewalk and fallen. We were driving in a bitterly cold Ohio snow storm so he could have easily thought “this isn’t my responsibility” and enjoyed the dryness and comfort of our heated car. Instead, after we slid to a stop and he put the car in park, he leapt out and ran to a complete stranger’s aid. When the man was upright and steady, he stayed with him until the old man indicated he was OK before jumping back in the car, covered with ice and snow. Dad didn’t say anything while we continued our journey. He didn’t have to say, “That’s what compassion is” because the lesson was in his choice to put someone else’s comfort and safety ahead of his own. That was the day I learned about true heroism. At the time I thought, “Wow, that’s my dad!” but the thought-form that crystallized deep in my psyche plays a key role in who I am today – someone who always tries to be aware of other’s in need and to lend a hand. When we moved to a new neighborhood in Cleveland and all our neighbors had strange last names, I learned the lessons of inclusion. You never said, “don’t play with THOSE people, they believe in a different God”. Rather, you taught “there is no spot where God is not.”Those were simpler times, when “Father Knows Best” (a “classic” ‘50’s/60’s TV show - for you youngsters) symbolized my privileged life as a middle class white kid growing up in a post Ike Eisenhower American mid-west. I also remember the words that triggered my political awakening, “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”. In 1960, at age 5, I broke the family party line and proudly sported a Kennedy/Johnson button. Then, on Nov. 22, 1963, my worldly innocence was shattered by a mysterious physics defying bullet that silenced MY first president.
