Holding onto Autumn and Promises of Peace

Autumn is a fickle season; the patchwork of leaves tempered by wind and rain. The storm last week scattered the leaves across my wooded yard and driveway. I want the leaves to hold on a little longer so that Geraldine can see them in their glory, painting the landscape with a riot of hue. The maples are crimson; birch is burnished gold. Yesterday we walked at Mansfield Dam; a walk I hope to be able to go on when my friend and collaborator on this collection of poetry, Geraldine Mills arrives. I want the winds to be soft as a breath so autumn will not give in so easily. It's a good quality--not giving in to pressure. I teach it to teenagers and try to practice it in my daily life. Finding my own truth is not the same as following the proported truth of others. We all have a path that makes us feel most at home, most productive.

Barack Obama won the Nobel Prize for Peace which caused some to celebrate, others to be angry because he hasn't yet proven himself. Don Williams, publisher of New Millennium Writings and an eloquent writer, said it better than I ever could but I think the gist of his writing was that Barack Obama thus far has been a unifier rather than a divider. He found a place in his administration for his chief rivals. He hosted a dinner for John McCain on the eve of his inauguration, and he invited both a gay bishop and a fundamentalist minister to his inauguration. He has made progress by coming to the table around issues of nuclear proliferation and our environmental challenges. The answers to the complex problems facing America and the world will never be solved by dividing us. The urge of some to invalidate everything he has done thus far is not useful. The Nobel Prize for Peace is an invitation to Barack Obama. It is a vote of confidence--go forward and do more. The world needs a visionary leader. America needs a president who is ethical and forthright. I believe the Nobel committee consciously cast their vote for a candidate who demonstrates unifying leadership and a vision of a more peaceful world. Will America get behind it?