Light Filled the Temple

Sun light filled the Temple on this past Saturday afternoon in early September. We were in Dunn Loring Virginia attending my nephew, Benjamin's Bar Mitzvah. My sister-in-law is Jewish and this ceremony is his acceptance of his Jewish faith. There was a cantor who sang and although I knew not the words, they enveloped me with a sense of history and awe I'll not soon forget. Some brought tears. I knew I was witnessing a very old ceremony amidst contemporary surroundings. The Ark of the Covenant.

We witnessed our nephew take command of a foreign - yet studied language, stand before family and friends and read from the handwritten scroll of the Torah- backwards, with amazing poise and confidence. He was respectful and solemn and steady in his demeanor. I was so proud of all he had accomplished to arrive at this point in his young life.

I saw a Temple filled with people of all faiths and all beliefs. From near and far, friends and family. I thought, 'why cannot this small microcosm of life, right here, right now, be the way a world of people get along?'
It gave me hope.
Hope that maybe it could.
Hope that maybe it will despite the differences we face.

There were celebrations and parties and hugs and well wishes through out the weekend. What will remain with me from this occasion was a young man taking control of himself. Accepting his faith and growing up, right before my eyes.
Light filled the Temple and hope filled my heart.
We are all one- if we chose to be!

Patricia

The Pain of People with Hope - Haiti

The magnitude of loss in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti seems unimaginable.
To be without the basics-
water
safety
shelter
food
sanitation
..seems beyond comprehensible.
It moves me to tears to see the plight that has been thrust upon the people of this impoverished nation.

To have so little-
to loose so much.
To have nothing.
To be stripped of all but your soul.
And in this strife to see arms raised in prayer.
Prayers of thanksgiving.
Prayers of hope.
Prayers from people who are being tested beyond what
most of us could comprehend....

How does one look for tomorrow?
How does one look for hope?
How does one pray that prayers do not dissolve into tears?
Visceral screaming.
Pain that emanates from deep within.

What lessons are there for me to learn about myself,
humanity
loss
grieving
possessions
comforts
faith?

"There but for the grace of God go I."
I heard my Mother say that more than once as a child.
As an adult, I understand those words and the complexity they entail.

This understanding born of my own grief.
Of dreams lost
of time not alloted to me
from a parent lost too soon
from growing up too fast
amidst confusion and quiet
not sharing pain
and delving deep inside for answers not found.

Tears are salt and salt heals.
They heal open wounds.
They heal hearts torn and ripped apart.
They heal wounds that seem un-repairable.
They heal.

The people of Haiti need prayers
They need hope.
They need to heal.
They need the ability to believe that tomorrow will be better.

Better than today or yesterday -
when so many tomorrows were taken
and shaken from their grip.
Taken by the violent shaking of Mother Earth.
When towns and villages and tomorrows were crumbled into ruin.
When doors and windows
became blocked with the rubble of memories
and rooms that held love and living and moments
are filled with debris.
When skies turned dark with the dust of
buildings
dreams
and devastation.

They need light
and love
and knowing they are not enduring this pain alone.
They need you.
They need me.
They need to begin again.
They need hope.

Don't' we all?

Sending love and light-
for this is all I have.


Patricia

A tribute to our road family.......

This is a brief tribute to those of you who look after us while we're on the road.
You call us, email us, leave messages on Facebook, or hug us as we
wallow in disappointment
clean up after a rainstorm
are grateful our work and tents and display are not damaged.
You pray for us
and hold us in your thoughts
on our travels
for our sales
in our despair and in our achievements.
You are our re-connect to the world going on outside our 10'x10' booths.
The world of inclement weather,
of flu pandemics
of hope.
You gave us pause to realize
this is what we do
in the face of very uncertain and scary times
Because this is who we are!
You travel the unknown roads we travel
and journey with our own fragile selves as
we do what calls us.
We create.
We make art in a fragile economy.
We make art in our fragile selves.
We are are fragile
We make art.

We appreciate you.
Thank you!


Patricia

★★★ Inauguration 2009 ★★★

Today was better than great!
Today was a pep rally for democracy.
For the world.
For the spirit.
The past and the future came together
and fused into one.
A climate of hope in the dead of winter.
Today a man my age stepped forward
and in taking the oath of office will forever
change the face of this nation.
A contemporary man with old world values
his youth and wisdom will unite generations.
His vision a beacon of direction in a country
that had lost its way.
I have waited 8 years for this man.
Many waited 46 years for this dream to be fulfilled.
Some, a lifetime.
Obama raised his hand and lifted a nation.
I will never forget today.
I wouldn't want to forget it for a moment.
It's a culmination of great moments that
has changed the world!
★ ★ ★
Patricia

YES WE DID!

The eyes of the world were watching.
Waiting to see if we did the right thing - this time around.
We did!
As Charlie Gibson waited till just after the polls in the west closed and
quietly looked up and declared Barack Obama the winner, I cried.
No, actually, I sobbed.
I have hope and my vote counted.
It never felt so good as to cast my vote for Obama yesterday!
It was a clear and thundering victory!
This country has the opportunity to return to the honor and prominence it once had.
To be admired not joked about.
To be whole and not fractured.
As Obama said, we have placed our hand on the ark of history......
Oh to have been in Grant Park last night............
I woke up today, slightly hung over, but with hope.
A feeling I have not had in a very long time.
For all who have felt cast aside,
this is your moment.
For all who felt like less than equal,
this is your moment.
For all who had lost hope America would ever begin to heal,
this is your moment.
For Barack and Michele Obama and Joe and Jill Biden,
you have all worked so hard and sacrificed so much,
this is your moment.
May you shine!

I'm tired, but proud to be an American!!!!!!!!!!

Patricia

Go Obama, GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

100,000 + in St. Louis for Obama!

This looks like Inauguration Day, not a rally!
Keeping the faith this intellectual, charismatic man wins!
The 'other guy' is frightening!!

See more..http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
This just in.......Colin Powell endorses......
http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/864
Patricia

♡ Breast Cancer Courage Box ♡

★´¨)
¸,•´¸.•¤´¨} ¸.•*¨)
(¸.*´ (¸.*`¤~ I'm featuring my Breast Cancer Courage Box. This was cathartic to make. Breast cancer is a cause near to my heart since losing my Mom to it when I was 15. This was before mamograms! I'm hoping the future owner of this box will be sharing it with a friend, daughter, mother or sister who has survived!
October is Breast Cancer awareness month.
This box is full of hope!



It measures 13 1/2" wide and 4" deep and 5 1/2" tall, opens by way of a golden clasp on the front. This box has a hinged top that opens easily revealing the contents you decide are the treasures to store inside. It has two-tone pink feet and
co-ordinating fringe. Inside, the bottom is lined with sultry black velvet. Emblazoned with wonderful words and images of hope, courage and awarness.
Grace gives us the abilty to move forward despite what life hands us.

To all who have been cured~
are newly diagnosed
are working towards their recovery
are accepting their diagnosis
are dealing with their prognosis.......
You are being prayed for in a very special way.
Take care of yourselves and your bodies.
They are the temples of the spirit.

༺♥༻
Patricia

On etsy
75.00

☞This Man Can Lead!!

I take the liberty in printing this powerful piece of literature.
It needs to be read by every American voter.
If you're a fence-sitter, get off it and read this!!

Obama Will be One of the Greatest (and Most Loved) American Presidents

By Frank Schaeffer
Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Great presidents are made great by horrible circumstances combined with character, temperament and intelligence. Like firemen, cops, doctors or soldiers, presidents need a crisis to shine.

Obama is one of the most intelligent presidential aspirants to ever step forward in American history. The likes of his intellectual capabilities have not been surpassed in public life since the Founding Fathers put pen to paper. His personal character is also solid gold. Take heart, America: we have the leader for our times.

I say this as a white, former life-long Republican. I say this as the proud father of a Marine. I say this as just another American watching his pension evaporate along with the stock market! I speak as someone who knows it's time to forget party loyalty, ideology and pride and put the country first. I say this as someone happy to be called a fool for going out on a limb and declaring that, 1) Obama will win, and 2) he is going to be amongst the greatest of American presidents.

Obama is our last best chance. He's worth laying it all on the line for.

This is a man who in the age of greed took the high road of community service. This is the good father and husband. This is the humble servant. This is the patient teacher. This is the scholar statesman. This is the man of deep Christian faith.

Good stories about Obama abound; from his personal relationship with his Secret Service agents (he invites them into his home to watch sports, and shoots hoops with them) to the story about how, more than twenty years ago, while standing in the check-in line at an airport, Obama paid a $100 baggage surcharge for a stranger who was broke and stuck. (Obama was virtually penniless himself in those days.) Years later after he became a senator, that stranger recognized Obama's picture and wrote to him to thank him. She received a kindly note back from the senator. (The story only surfaced because the person, who lives in Norway, told a local newspaper after Obama ran for the presidency. The paper published a photograph of this lady proudly displaying Senator Obama's letter.)

Where many leaders are two-faced; publicly kindly but privately feared and/or hated by people closest to them, Obama is consistent in the way he treats people, consistently kind and personally humble. He lives by the code that those who lead must serve. He believes that. He lives it. He lived it long before he was in the public eye.

Obama puts service ahead of ideology. He also knows that to win politically you need to be tough. He can be. He has been. This is a man who does what works, rather than scoring ideological points. In other words he is the quintessential non-ideological pragmatic American. He will (thank God!) disappoint ideologues and purists of the left and the right.

Obama has a reservoir of personal physical courage that is unmatched in presidential history. Why unmatched? Because as the first black contender for the presidency who will win, Obama, and all the rest of us, know that he is in great physical danger from the seemingly unlimited reserve of unhinged racial hatred, and just plain unhinged ignorant hatred, that swirls in the bowels of our wounded and sinful country. By stepping forward to lead, Obama has literally put his life on the line for all of us in a way no white candidate ever has had to do. (And we all know how dangerous the presidency has been even for white presidents.)

Nice stories or even unparalleled courage isn't the only point. The greater point about Obama is that the midst of our worldwide financial meltdown, an expanding (and losing) war in Afghanistan, trying to extricate our country from a wrong and stupidly mistaken ruinously expensive war in Iraq, our mounting and crushing national debt, awaiting the next (and inevitable) al Qaeda attack on our homeland, watching our schools decline to Third World levels of incompetence, facing a general loss of confidence in the government that has been exacerbated by the Republicans doing all they can to undermine our government's capabilities and programs... President Obama will take on the leadership of our country at a make or break time of historic proportions. He faces not one but dozens of crisis, each big enough to define any presidency in better times.

As luck, fate or divine grace would have it (depending on one's personal theology) Obama is blessedly, dare I say uniquely, well-suited to our dire circumstances. Obama is a person with hands-on community service experience, deep connections to top economic advisers from the renowned University of Chicago where he taught law, and a middle-class background that gives him an abiding knowledgeable empathy with the rest of us. As the son of a single mother, who has worked his way up with merit and brains, recipient of top-notch academic scholarships, the peer-selected editor of the Harvard Law Review and, in three giant political steps to state office, national office and now the presidency, Obama clearly has the wit and drive to lead.

Obama is the sober voice of reason at a time of unreason. He is the fellow keeping his head while all around him are panicking. He is the healing presence at a time of national division and strife. He is also new enough to the political process so that he doesn't suffer from the terminally jaded cynicism, the seen-it-all-before syndrome afflicting most politicians in Washington. In that regard we Americans lucked out. It's as if having despaired of our political process we picked a name from the phone book to lead us and that person turned out to be a very man we needed.

Obama brings a healing and uplifting spiritual quality to our politics at the very time when our worst enemy is fear. For eight years we've been ruled by a stunted fear-filled mediocrity of a little liar who has expanded his power on the basis of creating fear in others. Fearless Obama is the cure. He speaks a litany of hope rather than a litany of terror.

As we have watched Obama respond in a quiet reasoned manner to crisis after crisis, in both the way he has responded after being attacked and lied about in the 2008 campaign season, to his reasoned response to our multiplying national crises, what we see is the spirit of a trusted family doctor with a great bedside manner. Obama is perfectly suited to hold our hand and lead us through some very tough times. The word panic is not in the Obama dictionary.

America is fighting its "Armageddon" in one fearful heart at a time. A brilliant leader with the mild manner of an old-time matter-of-fact country doctor soothing a frightened child is just what we need. The fact that our "doctor" is a black man leading a hitherto white-ruled nation out of the mess of its own making is all the sweeter and raises the Obama story to that of moral allegory.

Obama brings a moral clarity to his leadership reserved for those who have had to work for everything they've gotten and had to do twice as well as the person standing next to them because of the color of their skin. His experience of succeeding in spite of his color, social background and prejudice could have been embittering or one that fostered a spiritual rebirth of forgiveness and enlightenment. Obama radiates the calm inner peace of the spirit of forgiveness.

Speaking as a believing Christian I see the hand of a merciful God in Obama's candidacy. The biblical metaphors abound. The stone the builder rejected is become the cornerstone... the last shall be first... he that would gain his life must first lose it... the meek shall inherit the earth...

For my secular friends I'll allow that we may have just been extraordinarily lucky! Either way America wins.

Only a brilliant man, with the spirit of a preacher and the humble heart of a kindly family doctor can lead us now. We are afraid, out of ideas, and worst of all out of hope. Obama is the cure. And we Americans have it in us to rise to the occasion. We will. We're about to enter one of the most frightening periods of American history. Our country has rarely faced more uncertainty. This is the time for greatness. We have a great leader. We must be a great people backing him, fighting for him, sacrificing for a cause greater than ourselves.

A hundred years from now Obama's portrait will be placed next to that of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt. Long before that we'll be telling our children and grandchildren that we stepped out in faith and voted for a young black man who stood up and led our country back from the brink of an abyss. We'll tell them about the power of love, faith and hope. We'll tell them about the power of creativity combined with humility and intellectual brilliance. We'll tell them that President Obama gave us the gift of regaining our faith in our country. We'll tell them that we all stood up and pitched in and won the day. We'll tell them that President Obama restored our standing in the world. We'll tell them that by the time he left office our schools were on the mend, our economy booming, that we'd become a nation filled with green energy alternatives and were leading the world away from dependence on carbon-based destruction. We'll tell them that because of President Obama's example and leadership the integrity of the family was restored, divorce rates went down, more fathers took responsibility for their children, and abortion rates fell dramatically as women, families and children were cared for through compassionate social programs that worked. We'll tell them about how the gap closed between the middle class and the super rich, how we won health care for all, how crime rates fell, how bad wars were brought to an honorable conclusion. We'll tell them that when we were attacked again by al Qaeda, how reason prevailed and the response was smart, tough, measured and effective, and our civil rights were protected even in times of crisis...

We'll tell them that we were part of the inexplicably blessed miracle that happened to our country those many years ago in 2008 when a young black man was sent by God, fate or luck to save our country. We'll tell them that it's good to live in America where anything is possible. Yes we will!

★

Frank Schaeffer is the author of CRAZY FOR GOD-How I Grew Up As One Of The Elect, Helped Found The Religious Right, And Lived To Take All (Or Almost All) Of It Back. Now in paperback.

★ Destiny ★

Today was important......a day I will never forget!
Today we drove to Indianapolis to see Barack Obama. It's not everyday you get this type of opportunity. When we arrived at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, we saw police directing traffic and very long lines. Overnight rains left the air cool and damp on this fall morning. A far cry different from the sweltering heat we encounter when we go to the State Fair in August. We quickly moved through the screening checkpoint and physical search of my purse and Jons camera. Everything was well organized and lots of cheerful volunteers moved us through quickly. Lines wrapped around the building and within 45 minutes we were seated in the grandstands along with thousands of other friendly Obama-fans!

To watch the secret service, swat teams, media and police take position was an orchestra of the most serious kind. First the ABC World News Tonight bus rolled onto the fairgrounds and the crowd ignited. The big guys were there!
About 20 minutes later, our (hopefully) future President arrived!!
When the crowd (estimated to be in excess of 21,000) caught sight of the motorcade, cheers and chants rose to greet him.
It was human thunder!!
We were part of something very big!
Big for a red state that would certainly never give up this kind of passion for McCain!
Big for a cold wet Wednesday!
Big with people demanding change!
After 8 long, horrible years there was light at the end of the tunnel!!

As Obama took the stage, the dark clouds that had drifted through the morning began to lift.
I know this sounds weird, but the sun was breaking through and it's timing could not have been better!
★Change was on the way!!!★
I sat mesmerized by a calm steady voice that resonated a message I needed to hear first hand.
A message of hope, resolve and determination.
A message of change!
I got it!
So did the other 21,000 people who came alive there today!
This country needs the insight, intellect, passion, problem solving,
humanity and vision of Barack Obama!

To be in the presence of such a masterful orator
with such a powerful message,
an intellect that can solve problems,
a deep compassion for others,
a resolve of hope not fear,
an eloquence not often seen in a candidate-
and sense the energy he exuded was incredible!
It was overwhelming!
It was Obama-rific!
It brought me to tears.
Tears of hope that change can really happen.
It brought to the surface deep emotions.
I knew I was in the presence of a rare and energizing human being!!!
He is our last best chance.
This is the most important election of our lifetime!

★"Our destiny is not written for us, but by us"★

Vote with your heart!
It is not only your right, but your responsibility!
★★★★★★★★★★★
Patricia

★ Peace and Hope ★

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
Jon and I 'experienced' a wonderfully old historic neighborhood in St. Louis this past weekend, called Shaw. It was there we showed our work. A wonderful collection of work from high caliber artists ignited the public. The air was crisp and the leaves beginning to fall. Homes were adorend with Halloween decorations and potted mums.The recent doom of Wall Street had an impact on sales, but we anticipated that going in. We feel the need to continue to tempt people with our work.
I believe we did just that!
The neighborhood welcomed the artists to their annual event and into their homes and held a party Saturday after the show that left many drinking wine and dancing late into the evening, despite our economic stresses.
It may have been just the antidote!
What really struck us, was how wonderfully 'blue' an area we were in. Down the street from our booth, a grassroots movement of making yards signs for Obama took place. Large tarps covered the yard where signs were spray painted and decorated by children and adults. Bumper stickers were sold, ideas shared and poll numbers exchanged. The neighborhood children wrote messages about hope and Obama in the streets with chalk.
To be around like minded, intelligent, politically alive people was wonderful!
It gave us hope!
Hope Obama will win.
Hope for our country.
Hope of a return to people buying art.
Hope for so many lost feelings.

For the last 8 years I have watched our country become more divided every day.
The great 'uniter' has failed miserably in bringing this country together.
It reaches farther than that however. It has become a source of divisiness among
families who cannot bear to debate conflict.
This scenerio we know well.
Jon and I come from Republican parents who will not discuss politics.
Period.
I find this odd. I have long believed that it's when ideas, however different, are shared, that we can
all learn from one another.
I also was taught to stand up for what I believe in. I'm not afraid to speak my mind or think on my feet
and perhaps it is this that frightens them more.

I believe in leaving the world better than I found it.
I believe in helping the planet heal itself.
I believe in better tomorrows by carefully adjusting what we do today.
In taking responsibility.
I belive in the power of peace and the power of hope.
Without them I would be nothing.
Without them I could not put myself out there, weekend after weekend in such a wrecked economy
trying to sell my soul through my art.
Without them, I could not daily put one foot in front of the other without falling.
Without them I could not wake up to the atrocities the last wreckless 8 years of war, mismanagement and lies
have brough to our country and not curl into a ball sobbing.
Without them I would have given up long ago.
I don't want to be disappointed on November 4th.
I want change!
I want my livlihood back!
I WANT OUR COUNTRY BACK!!!

Like I said, I believe in the power of peace and the power of hope!
This is what I am casting my vote towards on election day!

Patricia

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Wall Street • Main Street • Street Fairs

These are strange times to be selling art at shows. We pay our jury fees, booth fees, our hotel bills and set up our work.
We show up.
We're there to do our best all the while knowing that the public must open their hearts and wallets to grace us with sales. Sometimes this happens. When it does I genuinely thank people for their recognition of the passion it takes to make a commitment to buying art. I never take a sale for granted.
Each one is important to my survival.
They let me have my life!

With these slow times there comes a sense of loss of control. Artists, especially us self-employed ones, are by nature, control freaks. We wear multiple hats and have to wear them well to succeed. Most of the time we can do this.
When I find myself feeling a loss of that control I feel the need to regain it ..........somehow.

Today I made soup!

Yes, soup!
The elixer of all things that need fixing.
A pot of creamy garlic soup with wild rice.
I'm not sure why, but the task of cutting and preparing soup settles me like nothng else.
It's my own creation. I don't use recipes.
Each pot is a one of a kind.

I also wrote these thoughts which resonate with current events.

The people have spoken with wide, bold strokes.
The markets have responded.
We all have our 'battles',
be it Wall Street,
Main Street
or our Street Fairs.
They are all passages.
Passages to power,
to homes,
to our incomes.
We traverse them in good times and in bad.
They take us where we need to go.
For artists and craftspeople,
the highways take us to the
parks and neighborhoods that will embrace our creations
with acceptance and grace us with purchases.

Our work becomes their collection.

A wonderful mingling
of financial commerce that is good,
fair and
far from greed.
Far from Wall Street.
It is this commerce that lets us small business
artists have the lives we live and
take us to our homes
where we find solace
down the roads we are most familiar.
A passage to our own passions.

Travel safe and continue doing your best work!
Abundant blessings to all of you!
༺♥༻
Patricia Hecker

★ Pro-Bama-Kin Obama Supporter ★

Yes, a one of kind Pro-Bama supporter.
Fully flexible.
Fully sturdy for the road ahead.
Inspired!!!
Able to embrace CHANGE!!

This articulated wooden artists model is emblazoned with the good karma
of the importance of voting, 2008, change, hope and ideas.
It comes to you from a fellow Obama supporter who belives that
on November 4th change for the better of our country will happen!!!!
We the people, will vote in leadership, honesty and the return of the Amercian Dream!
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
On November 4th, PLEASE VOTE!!!
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
Height is 13 1/4" tall.
There are millions of Obama supporters, just not too many like this one of a kind verion!

*McCain supporters not available!!!
See igloo's and old farts.
★

On etsy:
28.00

Biden and Clinton Discuss Women's Issues

★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Feel free to share this, spread this and keep this vital information flowing.
This IS the most important election of our lifetime.
To lose this election to the Republicans would be the worst horror of all!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h1pLEqI3Pw

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Patricia

★★★ 73,000 + People ★★★

Yes, 73,000 + people have filled The Denver Mile HIgh Stadium to bear witness to history in the making. Barack Obama will accept the nomination for President of the Untied States of America!
He does so in a stadium packed with individuals who want change! Not only want change, demand change!
He does so on the 45th anniversary of the "I Have a Dream" speech by Martin Luther King.
He does so on the heels of 8 years of failed leadership, failed potential and mis-use of power.
He does so as millions of Americans have lost their insurance, their homes, their jobs, their hope.
He does so in a stadium with more than 73,000 unified Democrats rallying for a cause.
He does so in a stadium that has welcomed former Republicans to voice their anger with their party.
He does this tonight.
With history in the making, the power of the people on his side, and a demeanor befitting a born leader,
Barack Obama will be center stage tonight and on election evening as we elect the next President of our country!
He does this to define and make real the promise of democracy.

I have hope!
★★★
Patricia

★ Democratic Convention ★

For the Democratic convention,
the Democratic ticket of Obama-Biden.....
motivate
translate,
intitiate
and
invigorate
the
weary masses
the uninsured
the left out
the unmotivated
the poor
the rich
the short-sighted.
The people who can't afford one home.

This is my prayer.
This is my passionate hope.
★
Patricia

GO FOR IT!

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Happy Weekend!
I feel good!!!
Patricia

★★★ Change Is On The Way!! ★★★

I have one home.
There are times when I wonder how I can pay for it.
Do you need 7 homes?
Do you need 10 homes?
I don't begrudge wealth.
I do question the moral compass of people who run for President of the Untited States
who have no clue what life for it's inhabitants is really like.
How can you be for the people when you have no idea what kind of lives real people have?

My hope and my prayer for this country is seated in Change!



Vote!

Open your eyes!
Become informed.
Articulate the facts.
Make change happen.
All is within your power.

It is your moral obligation as a citizen of this planet!
It's about passion.
It's about restoring what so many have fought and died for!

★
Patricia

Speech by Barack Obama ★ Berlin 2008

BERLIN, Germany -- Thank you to the citizens of Berlin and to the people of Germany. Let me thank Chancellor Merkel and Foreign Minister Steinmeier for welcoming me earlier today. Thank you Mayor Wowereit, the Berlin Senate, the police, and most of all thank you for this welcome.

I come to Berlin as so many of my countrymen have come before. Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a citizen - a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world.

I know that I don't look like the Americans who've previously spoken in this great city. The journey that led me here is improbable. My mother was born in the heartland of America, but my father grew up herding goats in Kenya. His father - my grandfather - was a cook, a domestic servant to the British.

At the height of the Cold War, my father decided, like so many others in the forgotten corners of the world, that his yearning - his dream - required the freedom and opportunity promised by the West. And so he wrote letter after letter to universities all across America until somebody, somewhere answered his prayer for a better life.

That is why I'm here. And you are here because you too know that yearning. This city, of all cities, knows the dream of freedom. And you know that the only reason we stand here tonight is because men and women from both of our nations came together to work, and struggle, and sacrifice for that better life.

Ours is a partnership that truly began sixty years ago this summer, on the day when the first American plane touched down at Templehof.

On that day, much of this continent still lay in ruin. The rubble of this city had yet to be built into a wall. The Soviet shadow had swept across Eastern Europe, while in the West, America, Britain, and France took stock of their losses, and pondered how the world might be remade.

This is where the two sides met. And on the twenty-fourth of June, 1948, the Communists chose to blockade the western part of the city. They cut off food and supplies to more than two million Germans in an effort to extinguish the last flame of freedom in Berlin.

The size of our forces was no match for the much larger Soviet Army. And yet retreat would have allowed Communism to march across Europe. Where the last war had ended, another World War could have easily begun. All that stood in the way was Berlin.

And that's when the airlift began - when the largest and most unlikely rescue in history brought food and hope to the people of this city.

The odds were stacked against success. In the winter, a heavy fog filled the sky above, and many planes were forced to turn back without dropping off the needed supplies. The streets where we stand were filled with hungry families who had no comfort from the cold.

But in the darkest hours, the people of Berlin kept the flame of hope burning. The people of Berlin refused to give up. And on one fall day, hundreds of thousands of Berliners came here, to the Tiergarten, and heard the city's mayor implore the world not to give up on freedom. "There is only one possibility," he said. "For us to stand together united until this battle is won...The people of Berlin have spoken. We have done our duty, and we will keep on doing our duty. People of the world: now do your duty...People of the world, look at Berlin!"

People of the world - look at Berlin!

Look at Berlin, where Germans and Americans learned to work together and trust each other less than three years after facing each other on the field of battle.

Look at Berlin, where the determination of a people met the generosity of the Marshall Plan and created a German miracle; where a victory over tyranny gave rise to NATO, the greatest alliance ever formed to defend our common security.

Look at Berlin, where the bullet holes in the buildings and the somber stones and pillars near the Brandenburg Gate insist that we never forget our common humanity.

People of the world - look at Berlin, where a wall came down, a continent came together, and history proved that there is no challenge too great for a world that stands as one.

Sixty years after the airlift, we are called upon again. History has led us to a new crossroad, with new promise and new peril. When you, the German people, tore down that wall - a wall that divided East and West; freedom and tyranny; fear and hope - walls came tumbling down around the world. From Kiev to Cape Town, prison camps were closed, and the doors of democracy were opened. Markets opened too, and the spread of information and technology reduced barriers to opportunity and prosperity. While the 20th century taught us that we share a common destiny, the 21st has revealed a world more intertwined than at any time in human history.

The fall of the Berlin Wall brought new hope. But that very closeness has given rise to new dangers - dangers that cannot be contained within the borders of a country or by the distance of an ocean.

The terrorists of September 11th plotted in Hamburg and trained in Kandahar and Karachi before killing thousands from all over the globe on American soil.

As we speak, cars in Boston and factories in Beijing are melting the ice caps in the Arctic, shrinking coastlines in the Atlantic, and bringing drought to farms from Kansas to Kenya.

Poorly secured nuclear material in the former Soviet Union, or secrets from a scientist in Pakistan could help build a bomb that detonates in Paris. The poppies in Afghanistan become the heroin in Berlin. The poverty and violence in Somalia breeds the terror of tomorrow. The genocide in Darfur shames the conscience of us all.

In this new world, such dangerous currents have swept along faster than our efforts to contain them. That is why we cannot afford to be divided. No one nation, no matter how large or powerful, can defeat such challenges alone. None of us can deny these threats, or escape responsibility in meeting them. Yet, in the absence of Soviet tanks and a terrible wall, it has become easy to forget this truth. And if we're honest with each other, we know that sometimes, on both sides of the Atlantic, we have drifted apart, and forgotten our shared destiny.

In Europe, the view that America is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help make it right, has become all too common. In America, there are voices that deride and deny the importance of Europe's role in our security and our future. Both views miss the truth - that Europeans today are bearing new burdens and taking more responsibility in critical parts of the world; and that just as American bases built in the last century still help to defend the security of this continent, so does our country still sacrifice greatly for freedom around the globe.

Yes, there have been differences between America and Europe. No doubt, there will be differences in the future. But the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together. A change of leadership in Washington will not lift this burden. In this new century, Americans and Europeans alike will be required to do more - not less. Partnership and cooperation among nations is not a choice; it is the one way, the only way, to protect our common security and advance our common humanity.

That is why the greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us from one another.

The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand. The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes; natives and immigrants; Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down.

We know they have fallen before. After centuries of strife, the people of Europe have formed a Union of promise and prosperity. Here, at the base of a column built to mark victory in war, we meet in the center of a Europe at peace. Not only have walls come down in Berlin, but they have come down in Belfast, where Protestant and Catholic found a way to live together; in the Balkans, where our Atlantic alliance ended wars and brought savage war criminals to justice; and in South Africa, where the struggle of a courageous people defeated apartheid.

So history reminds us that walls can be torn down. But the task is never easy. True partnership and true progress requires constant work and sustained sacrifice. They require sharing the burdens of development and diplomacy; of progress and peace. They require allies who will listen to each other, learn from each other and, most of all, trust each other.

That is why America cannot turn inward. That is why Europe cannot turn inward. America has no better partner than Europe. Now is the time to build new bridges across the globe as strong as the one that bound us across the Atlantic. Now is the time to join together, through constant cooperation, strong institutions, shared sacrifice, and a global commitment to progress, to meet the challenges of the 21st century. It was this spirit that led airlift planes to appear in the sky above our heads, and people to assemble where we stand today. And this is the moment when our nations - and all nations - must summon that spirit anew.

This is the moment when we must defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it. This threat is real and we cannot shrink from our responsibility to combat it. If we could create NATO to face down the Soviet Union, we can join in a new and global partnership to dismantle the networks that have struck in Madrid and Amman; in London and Bali; in Washington and New York. If we could win a battle of ideas against the communists, we can stand with the vast majority of Muslims who reject the extremism that leads to hate instead of hope.

This is the moment when we must renew our resolve to rout the terrorists who threaten our security in Afghanistan, and the traffickers who sell drugs on your streets. No one welcomes war. I recognize the enormous difficulties in Afghanistan. But my country and yours have a stake in seeing that NATO's first mission beyond Europe's borders is a success. For the people of Afghanistan, and for our shared security, the work must be done. America cannot do this alone. The Afghan people need our troops and your troops; our support and your support to defeat the Taliban and al Qaeda, to develop their economy, and to help them rebuild their nation. We have too much at stake to turn back now.

This is the moment when we must renew the goal of a world without nuclear weapons. The two superpowers that faced each other across the wall of this city came too close too often to destroying all we have built and all that we love. With that wall gone, we need not stand idly by and watch the further spread of the deadly atom. It is time to secure all loose nuclear materials; to stop the spread of nuclear weapons; and to reduce the arsenals from another era. This is the moment to begin the work of seeking the peace of a world without nuclear weapons.

This is the moment when every nation in Europe must have the chance to choose its own tomorrow free from the shadows of yesterday. In this century, we need a strong European Union that deepens the security and prosperity of this continent, while extending a hand abroad. In this century - in this city of all cities - we must reject the Cold War mind-set of the past, and resolve to work with Russia when we can, to stand up for our values when we must, and to seek a partnership that extends across this entire continent.

This is the moment when we must build on the wealth that open markets have created, and share its benefits more equitably. Trade has been a cornerstone of our growth and global development. But we will not be able to sustain this growth if it favors the few, and not the many. Together, we must forge trade that truly rewards the work that creates wealth, with meaningful protections for our people and our planet. This is the moment for trade that is free and fair for all.

This is the moment we must help answer the call for a new dawn in the Middle East. My country must stand with yours and with Europe in sending a direct message to Iran that it must abandon its nuclear ambitions. We must support the Lebanese who have marched and bled for democracy, and the Israelis and Palestinians who seek a secure and lasting peace. And despite past differences, this is the moment when the world should support the millions of Iraqis who seek to rebuild their lives, even as we pass responsibility to the Iraqi government and finally bring this war to a close.

This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet. Let us resolve that we will not leave our children a world where the oceans rise and famine spreads and terrible storms devastate our lands. Let us resolve that all nations - including my own - will act with the same seriousness of purpose as has your nation, and reduce the carbon we send into our atmosphere. This is the moment to give our children back their future. This is the moment to stand as one.

And this is the moment when we must give hope to those left behind in a globalized world. We must remember that the Cold War born in this city was not a battle for land or treasure. Sixty years ago, the planes that flew over Berlin did not drop bombs; instead they delivered food, and coal, and candy to grateful children. And in that show of solidarity, those pilots won more than a military victory. They won hearts and minds; love and loyalty and trust - not just from the people in this city, but from all those who heard the story of what they did here.

Now the world will watch and remember what we do here - what we do with this moment. Will we extend our hand to the people in the forgotten corners of this world who yearn for lives marked by dignity and opportunity; by security and justice? Will we lift the child in Bangladesh from poverty, shelter the refugee in Chad, and banish the scourge of AIDS in our time?

Will we stand for the human rights of the dissident in Burma, the blogger in Iran, or the voter in Zimbabwe? Will we give meaning to the words "never again" in Darfur?

Will we acknowledge that there is no more powerful example than the one each of our nations projects to the world? Will we reject torture and stand for the rule of law? Will we welcome immigrants from different lands, and shun discrimination against those who don't look like us or worship like we do, and keep the promise of equality and opportunity for all of our people?

People of Berlin - people of the world - this is our moment. This is our time.

I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we've struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.

But I also know how much I love America. I know that for more than two centuries, we have strived - at great cost and great sacrifice - to form a more perfect union; to seek, with other nations, a more hopeful world. Our allegiance has never been to any particular tribe or kingdom - indeed, every language is spoken in our country; every culture has left its imprint on ours; every point of view is expressed in our public squares. What has always united us - what has always driven our people; what drew my father to America's shores - is a set of ideals that speak to aspirations shared by all people: that we can live free from fear and free from want; that we can speak our minds and assemble with whomever we choose and worship as we please.

Those are the aspirations that joined the fates of all nations in this city. Those aspirations are bigger than anything that drives us apart. It is because of those aspirations that the airlift began. It is because of those aspirations that all free people - everywhere - became citizens of Berlin. It is in pursuit of those aspirations that a new generation - our generation - must make our mark on history.
People of Berlin - and people of the world - the scale of our challenge is great. The road ahead will be long. But I come before you to say that we are heirs to a struggle for freedom. We are a people of improbable hope. Let us build on our common history, and seize our common destiny, and once again engage in that noble struggle to bring justice and peace to our world.

★★★
This man and his vision gives me hope!
This is the moment to stand as one.
Patricia

Barack Obama

Change. Dignity. Hope.

In the past 7 1/2 years I have watched friends lose their jobs, their homes, their businesses and their dignity. It's these fundamental things that provide one with self-esteem and are basics to everday life. People my age and older are working harder and making less. When people lose hope they have no reason to look forward to becoming old. A health care system that is run by insurance companies for profit and out of reach to so many Americans is not something they can buy into. We have a government that has disenfranchised the people of this country and this world. Not a united states, but a divided, splintered country. I see this division among family members who dare not discuss the reality that has come to this country by way of poor leadership. Corporate interests cannot supercede the lives of individuals who have worked and fought so hard for this country. Wealth is about so much more than money! It's about passion and compassion.
This election has to bring about change!!!

We spoke with a wonderful couple today at the show who were retired and well in to their late 60's. It was refreshing to have a conversation with these older folks we could relate to! I respected their wisdom and open-mindedness. They lend their hope and votes, as do we, to Barack Obama! They work with their church in efforts to help the people of Darfur. They have traveled and worked with the people of Darfur to help bring in clean drinking water. Something we take for granted in this country.
Below is the group they work with:
http://waterfordarfur.com/index.htm
I have other artist friends who will begin collecting Social Security this coming year. If the art business doesn't sustain them, they have decided to work on re-building homes in New Orleans with Habitat for Humanity. They feel compelled to humanitarian work and making a difference.

This is the America I am proud of!
People who care and stand with the conviction of their beliefs and act upon them!
Jon and I are gifted with a wide array of friends who inspire us daily. I feel blessed!
♥♥
Patricia

My candidate for hope!!!