NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

Well, there's no peace in the blogosphere......or any other form of media today. Our president is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and two-thirds of this country goes bonkers! No punch is pulled. No heartfelt congratulations are offered. Right-wingers are aghast and spewing forth the usual poison. Lefters are saying it's too early in his career. Some folks are rooting for that career to end quickly. Teabaggers are planning their next disruption. Whites are shouting "affirmative action" prize. Blacks are high-fiving each other. Bloggers are making the usual crass remarks about Michelle Obama and her looks. Twitters are wishing they could use more than 140 characters today.

What is wrong with this country? For being such a supposedly "Christian" country, or at least one based on the morals and ethics of such, we suck. We have no respect for anyone. We have no values. We can only hope for the worst for others, because then we feel better about ourselves. We relish others' misfortunes, laugh at others' mistakes and foibles. We are voyeurs in the lives of people on television and movies: people that are shallow, selfish and who wouldn't even be noticed if they weren't shoved in our face constantly. Political figures, supposedly of good character and working hard for our concerns in government, are living the "do as I say, not as I do" lifestyle of charlatans. Talk show "journalists" push their agendas brashly and unquestioned.

President Obama stated that he was humbled by this award, and that he was undeserving. It was an award not just for him, but for all those people who are trying to make this world a better place. (Ok, not a direct quote, I know. But the message is the same. I'll leave the parsing of words to the pundits.) Yes, it does seem too soon on one hand. He's not been in office a year yet. He's getting opposition from so many people on what he wants to accomplish: people that are steadfastly partisan in their views. Any form of change from the status quo is the end of the world to them. "The way it's always been is the way it should be. Anything else is socialism, ungodly, sending the country off a cliff, galavanting around with foreign devils, showing the world we're just a bunch of wusses!"

Wait a minute: this Nobel Peace Prize.......it's winners are chosen from the world stage, correct? And I know there are many people just as or even more deserving than our president. His accomplishments are not fully written yet. Maybe that's not the point. It's the EFFORT to achieve this peace, or the coming together of the world at this time that is the point. Someone is actually trying to do something without taking over every other country forcefully, leaving those people with a sense of dignity whether deserved or not. Someone recognizes that America is not the only country in this wide world, but does have a leading role to play.

If only the people of America understood that peace is not something we go in and demand. It is something we work for, and not by ourselves. This is the message that our president is trying to get out. It is something that we at home need to get into our heads, too. All this right wing hostility and left wing condescension, all this "we said, they said" needs to stop. This country is a glaring example of what the world at large should not be. I'm not being pollyanna-ish here. Just realistic. Maybe, that too, is a good reason to award the Nobel Prize to our president: what can be accomplished on the world stage HAS to be done here a home, regardless of all the opposition. There has to be change.