thoughts on the news of the day: expectations

hmmm…..

            Can we live up to our children’s expectations? 

            Last night President Obama shared some thoughts about Christina-Taylor Green, the nine year old girl who was killed in the tragic shooting in Tucson last Saturday. Christina attended the fatal rally because she was learning about democracy and wanted to meet Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Speaking about Christina, the President said, "She saw all of this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often take for granted.  I want us to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it."

            "At a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized--at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who happen to think differently than we do--it's important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds," Obama said.

            There are no simple answers to the problems that we face as a nation.  It’s easy to look for solutions in the faults we find in others.  Let’s not do that.  Let’s try instead to look through the open and optimistic eyes of our children.  Let’s see to it that our world is a peaceful place for them.  Let’s live up to our children’s expectations.

            hmmm…..