Generations

Here are Devin, 21, and Quincy, 4, riding their bikes in the extreme heat of this Florida autumn. I snap this photo today and what is on my mind is the concern I feel for their generations. Devin is working on her senior college honors project in ceramics, and Quincy is nearly new and works hard at everything. What in the world will life hold for them? Right now they are smiling and moving forward at a rapid pace to get a glass of ice water. Soon, they'll be moving forward into life as citizens of this planet.

I awoke to the news that Obama had been awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace! Twelve hours later the pundits and the nattering nabobs say their pieces as they will. Some say it is all political as a powerful message that Obama should take this as a boot for the U.S. to get out of Afghanistan, or whatever..

What I choose to believe is that the Nobel Committee simply recognized the power and drive of this good and brilliant man to make a better world for mankind. He's not been able to accomplish much yet, having had to face enormous tasks and the opposition and fear of change from people, especially Congress. I hope Obama will navigate these extremely difficult times. He's a pleaser for sure. He must carefully tread the delicate line between what he sees as the best way to make this world a better place, and the noisy naysayers who are out to thwart him at every turn. But he is a good man, and I think is genuine in his desire to bring everyone to the table of good conscience.

In this era that brought so much greed and corruption culminating in such an economic decline, our ship of state is large and slow to turn around. I am privileged to have lived to see this time. I feel confident that if anyone could do it - pay attention to global warming, the economy, health care, and our involvement in Afghanistan, and begin to find solutions, it will be Obama.

Devin and Quincy are counting on how this turns out. Their world will be different from ours, for sure. We cannot leave to them a world with nuclear weapons always threatening to annihilate us all, or a country that leaves so many with no health care, or a planet that becomes ever hotter and polluted, or belief systems that disparage segments of human populations.

Tonight, I feel just a small bit more optimistic.