Today marks the one year anniversary of that fateful Tuesday last December when I took off on my bicycle from Los Angeles en route 3000 miles to see President Obama’s inauguration in Washington DC. I must say this entire month has been filled with emotions, some happy, others quite sad, as I reflect on what the past year has brought me.
I’d like to list some of the positive gains first: new friends, a passion for cycling, a belief in the American people that had shattered my youthful notions of nationhood. Optimism unbound, and a deep knowledge that anything you dream can be achieved if the intentions are pure and your efforts are supported by like-minded individuals.
But on a more melancholic note, this past year has been such a wild ride through life that I find myself disillusioned and fizzling on my pro-Obama platform. Much of the reason that I have not posted lately is due to travels to Rwanda over the summer
, and now my current job working with the under served youth in Long Island New York.
(Sure they look cute, but just step in for a day and see what happens!)
I stay so busy keeping up on the day to day madness of working with adolescent youth that I hardly have time to keep my nose in the papers to see what my oft-beloved commander in chief has been up to.
But I couldnt resist the headline today…30,000 more troops to Afghanistan?!
If this all goes through, and Mr. Obama becomes just another war president, then I am obliged to state along with Michael Moore that he “will do the worst possible thing [he] could do — destroy the hopes and dreams so many millions have placed in you. … You will teach them what they’ve always heard is true — that all politicians are alike. I simply can’t believe you’re about to do what they say you are going to do. Please say it isn’t so.”
If there’s one thing I learned about politics in this last year, its that it is much more challenging than anything I could ever see myself get into. While I wanted to celebrate the Nobel Committee’s decision to honor Obama, I repeat what I said then, “too soon, far too soon”. Let’s hope we can get some pro-peace momentum heading forward.
Departing December 2, 2008
Arrival: January 20, 2009
on Dec 1st, 2009 at 6:41 pm
Much love to all those who have entered my life over the past year. I know I’m terrible at following up with the many amazing people I’ve met, so whether or not we’re still connected, your presence is a blessing.
In this holiday season I wish you nothing but peace, health, love and positive vibrations
on Dec 2nd, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Congrats and thanks for the memories. I agree with the move for peace. I must say that there are some things that are beyond the scope of our and even the President’s understanding and control. Change is not instantly accomplished. We can only pray for time.
on Dec 2nd, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Hope is the abstract personification of frustrated disaffection. It is a commodity traded with vicious insensitivity in the marketplace of political ideology.
Congratulations on taking the red pill, Ryan. There is much to learn.
on Dec 2nd, 2009 at 10:53 pm
I agree with your concerns and I too would love to see peace. I urge you to watch the address. He is still the president you biked thousands of miles to see.
http://bit.ly/518RnJ
on Dec 7th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
At least you are not an apologist for a man who cannot keep his word, Ryan. Others may offer President Obama the fig leaf of virtue, but those who research his inability to follow through on those progressive promises of action made during the campaign last year, will most certainly find that there is a justifiable cause for anger.
Only an independent would choose to point out that detainees at Guantanamo Bay have had their scrotum sliced with razor blades during torture. When exactly is that… and rendition… and secret prisons… and the illegal occupations of foreign nations… and the shredding of the Constitution going to end, exactly?
Oh yeah: “He is still the president you biked thousands of miles to see.”
I met you. I know you. You did not expend all of your efforts in order to be swindled of both your hope AND your freedoms by a well-spoken charlatan with a good resume. Thus would make the only difference between George W. Bush and Barack Obama, that part about being well-spoken.
Keep searching for answers, and don’t allow those without the necessary objectivity cloud your vision with their versions of the truth. You’ve got the power to create change… we all do.
on Jan 20th, 2010 at 7:11 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAloKzXTwFE
on Jan 27th, 2010 at 8:23 pm
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/26/michael_moore_on_haiti_the_supreme