Check out the previous blog to see our old boat we're fixing up. Thanks again Gram and Briggs for helping get the outboard motor. We should have it ready for the water just in time for the spring run of fish at the coast. Once the water temps rise to 64-70 a fish called an Atlantic Bonita magically shows up off the Carolina coast for several weeks before migrating across the ocean. As they leave the Spanish mackerel and king mackerel show. Hopefully I'll be going offshore this week in search of yellowfin tuna, wahoo and mahi-mahi.
I wanted to just write a little about a person I think is being mis-represented by right-wing snipers. First of all, I urge those who read this to be wary of all political emails you may receive from friends/acquaintances. I use the word sniper above because the email is becoming a great tool to pass on mis-information, please forgive, but I have some anecdotal evidence that Republicans are much more active that Democrats. Not to stray off too far,
but Barack and Michelle Obama are at the top of a list on Snopes.com, a non-partisan site that does fact checking to confirm or debunk various claims that are mostly of the viral email variety. Out of 12 of these claims against Obama, one was confirmed and that was him not placing his hand on the heart during the national anthem (not a modern day requirement), but he was singing to this great country like his grandfather taught him. The Obama's are not the only victims of completely false information, but these are the most recent, numerous and complete out of step with Christian ideals that the Republican party is suppose to represent. Ok, the moral of the story, if you get an email that sounds a little sensational, then it may be. If you want the truth, it's pretty easy to use google or snopes.com to find more information or a different viewpoint.
Ok, back to the story at hand. I tell this just to provide a different viewpoint in an effort to mainly counter some of the falsehoods that these emails portray. Michelle Obama came this past week to speak at my university, NC State. I took the opportunity to listen to what she had to say. She spoke eloquently for over an hour about her family without a single note, which to me is a signal that she was truly speaking from the heart and not prepared, set narrative. A main theme of her talk was the idea that there is a bar set in the US that represents a level that if we reach we can expect to make a reasonable living to support our family. Now, for different people that bar is at a different level, for instance, a person who does not go to college, but has developed a trade that person, if they work hard, should be able to make enough to put food on the table, pay rent and have access to health care. She spoke about her upbringing in the intercity of Chicago. Her Korean war veteran father was a maintenance worker for the city. He developed a disability from the war, but she said that he never complain, got up every morning and did what he had to to support the family. She said that back in those times a father could make a living while allowing a mother to stay home and raise the kids to be productive members of society and that nowdays the bar has been raised. In a family like hers both the mother and father has to work to get by, which leaves less time for the parents, especially the mother to nurture and teach the kids. It was her mothers influence that put her on the right track that eventually led her to be accepted at one of the best schools in American, Princeton. It was the hard work of her father and Christian values taught by both parents that made her a success. This day in age the bar is constantly being moved because of the high cost of health care, fuel, food, etc which makes it difficult for average Americans to get ahead.
She then made a pivot to Barack and his history.
Obama was raised in his early years by a mother from Kansas who dreamed of seeing the world (I recommend taking a look at the article linked here. She was one of the early foreign aid workers for the US in Indionasis helping disadvantaged women. She taught Obama several important lessons when he was young. One was
"not be limited by fear or narrow definitions, to not build walls around ourselves and to do our best to find kinship and beauty in unexpected places". Another important message was the value that to whom much is given much is required. She also taught him ideas like the measure of a person is not what they do when everyone is looking, but what they do when they are out of the spotlight. I personally see these as not only core Christian values, but core values of humanity. These kind of values stick with a person as they grow. Just one quick example, I remember my Mom telling me about Aunt Joe buying a refrigerator for the church, but she did not want anyone to know. To this day I try to keep charitable contributions, etc private. So, Obama grew up, got a scholarship at Harvard, graduated and became the first Black president of the Harvard Law Review. I don't know much about this title, but evidently a person who achieves this level basically has the credentials to work in big city law firms making on the order of a million a year or more. Get this, and this is extremely important, he turns this opportunity down in the late 80's and goes back to Chicago to work as a community organizer in an effort to make the lives of those disadvantaged better. To who much is given, much is required was what he recalled from his mother. Or, the measure of a man's character is best gauged when others are not watching, as Obama was not in the national spotlight.
There is an under-current that is being forced by many of these false emails that Obama is against personal responsibility (real this article about how he thinks parents need need to be more involved with there children). About 1 of 8 people actually still think that he is a trojan horse Muslim extremist. Probably half the people in the US think he will raise taxes. Some think he is racist even though he said that he channeled his white mother in his speech a month ago, in particular her teaching "not be limited by fear or narrow definitions, to not build walls around ourselves and to do our best to find kinship and beauty in unexpected places". Some like to think of Obama as an elitist even though he grew up in the middle class, used scholorships and loans to make it through college and turned down a high paying job to work in and for his community. If you think he's elite because of his high intelligence level than I see that as a good quality and something we need in a President. I urge everyone to turn the focus from the ideas put forth in these emails that he's a scary person to the facts that are on the table. I can appreciate if his so called "liberal views" are challenged, things like full health insurance coverage for children (SCHIP), affordable heath insurance for those who want it, ending 200 billion a year spent in Iraq, tax cuts for the middle-class, student Pell grants to those who work in community and national service programs, helping parents with child-care costs, etc. But, what is not productive are the third rail issues that only attempt to divide America. In closing Michelle Obama said that the kind of change that they are pushing will not happen if Obama simply gets elected, it will be hard work for everyone, because it requires us to be more introspective of how we see each other and that remove boundaries that separate us. We don't have to compromise our own values, but we at least need to try to understand viewpoints other than our own.
Here's a flyer I plan on handing out in my own neighborhood that outlines some of Obama's ideas.
One other story that made me tear up just a little (I'm a little to sensitive some times). When the Obamas were in SC Michelle made a stop at a local beauty salon in a Black area of town. After she talked a little girl came up and tugged on her dress to get her attention. The girl tells her that if Obama gets elected it would he historic. Michelle asked her why she thought that way and the girl said something to the effect that it would mean that she could do anything or be anything that she wanted when she grew up. I could see an Obama Presidency having a huge impact on the Black youth in our country who now look up to rappers and sports figures. It would in effect raise the bar in a good way.
Cheers and have a nice week!
Rob
PS please excuse any grammar errors, I do not have the time right now to proofread.
