It’s Day One in a brave new America, and I can’t stop thinking about Barack Obama’s challenge to the nation. It has been far too long since a president has expected much from the people he has led, and for the most part, we have lived down to those expectations. Mounting national debt, lives lost overseas, inequalities and injustice in our own and other countries…and we’re told to go shopping.
We have devolved into a culture of irresponsibility. Remember when just a call to your parents from a neighbor meant going to bed straight after supper? Now we don’t want anyone to hold us, or our kids, accountable for anything. Global warming? Not my fault. Homeless person? Don’t make eye contact.
Here in America, we want convenience. Everything should be microwavable in under 30 seconds, and we shouldn’t have to get out of our SUVs to get it (unless we can sneak into that handicapped parking spot, since we’re in a hurry and we’ll only be going in for a minute). We are in great danger of raising a generation attuned only to the sound-bite, the disposable, the easy way.
But wait! Here’s a man who wants us to do something. Just say YES?!? And the group to whom this call seems to be most resounding is that next generation. That’s why they call it….HOPE.
How can you be of service? Don’t stand in their way. Better yet, join them. Even better, lead them. Challenge yourself to do one selfless thing a day. Join a group that identifies local needs and creates solutions. Can’t find that group? Start it. We have to stop thinking that someone else will do it for us. The only way we will see real change is if each of us takes responsibility for helping to make it happen.
How can Cornerstone Books be of service? We continue to have a committment to be of service in our local community in as many ways possible, and hope that you’ll take the time to share ideas on how we might do that in 2009. May today be the first day of a better America.
Beth
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