President Lyndon B. Johnson once said .."If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them more than the miracles of technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it." 

We most assuredly either didn't listen or we chose to ignore those words of wisdom, and our children and grandchildren will be the poorer because of that omission. There is no question, the planet is now in peril, nature's creatures are threatened with extinction, and violence and hatred abound. The world we inherited is now only a fond memory befouled by our shortsighted and selfish indulgence in a way of life which gives us every modern convenience known to man and a life style which has been to a disproportionate degree the genesis of the planet's ills.

We are now in the midst of waging two wars and creating in the process enmity throughout much of the world for our nations and our peoples. During the past decade we have chosen leaders who disdained diplomatic communication with other nations and chose instead to use superior firepower in order to attempt to force others to conform to our ways with little or no regard for human life and the misery we were inflicting on others, including innocent women and children, who have reaped the harvest of our faulty judgment in selecting those who would act in our names.

In 1952  a member of the House of Representatives, in the United States Congress, Rep. Howard Buffet wrote .."Even if it were desirable, America is not strong enough to police the world by military force. If that attempt is made, the blessings of liberty will be replaced by coercion and tyranny at home. Our Christian ideals cannot be exported to other lands by dollars and guns. Persuasion and example are the methods taught by the Carpenter of Nazareth, and if we believe in Christianity we should try to advance our ideals by his methods. We cannot practice might and force abroad and retain freedom at home. We cannot talk world cooperation and practice power politics." 

Where is that wisdom today ? Most assuredly we are living proof of just how prescient he was all those years ago. And there is a very real danger once again this year that we may see those same errors in judgment repeated which brought us to this point as it is time to again select a President of the United States. This time there is a chance to begin to change course and right the wrongs which have flourished in our names. Will Americans take that chance ? Or will they simply choose more of the same ? The choice is up to the American people and no one else, for although their President is acknowledged to be, to all intents and purposes, the Leader of the Free World, we have no say in the choosing. We are allies and friends, not subjects. An extended family, if you will. We must only watch, and pray they choose wisely.

For the first time in many decades we see the possibilities of a leader who shows the promise of  real change. One who has inspired an entire generation of young people to forego apathy and actually become engaged in the political process. Not since the 1960's have we seen so much enthusiasm displayed and such active involvement in a political campaign. Those of our generation remember those years well. We also saw that hope and responded to it. And we saw our optimism and beliefs diminish as subsequent events unfolded which led to the apathy and division which has prevailed in North America since that time. We gave up and became a part of the "ME " society which is a root cause of much of what we see in our world today. We cannot, and must not, allow history to repeat itself. The partisan division which now prevails has divided our people, weakening the very fabric of our nations. It has compromised our cherished values and threatened our precious freedoms. Continuing on the present course may well see our much vaunted democracies become nothing more than a footnote in history. We cannot destroy that hope in the youth of today. We do not have that right.

We had our chance and we blew it. It's their time now. The American people have it within their power to end the downward spiral of the past several decades and restore respect for our nations  around the world which can do more to guarantee safety and freedom for our peoples than all the weaponry ever devised by man. No one man can accomplish all of this on his own, or even in his lifetime, but it can be a long overdue fresh new beginning in the right direction.

Barack Obama isn't a messiah, he isn't a miracle worker, he's a man who is determined to try, and who possesses the courage, intellect, and the optimism to believe a united people can change the course of history. I devoutly pray the American people will give him the opportunity to begin that course correction.

We were bequeathed an awesome responsibility. One we have ignored for much too long a time. It's  time we honoured that responsibility. It was a priceless legacy that we have taken for granted and squandered. We have a chance with this coming election to begin the journey toward restoring that precious heritage for which so many sacrificed so much for us. We owe our children and grandchildren no less.

With all due respect, I sincerely believe that to do otherwise will prove once and for all that Mark Twain was correct when he wrote ...