A Mother’s Day Plea

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/05/13/1163/

A Mother’s Day Plea
by Susan Lenfestey

Dear Mr. President,

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We grew up believing that we were the greatest, kindest nation in the world, that there was nothing we couldn’t do if we all put our shoulder to the wheel. We were the Peace Corps generation, heck, we even went to the moon.

Yes, we also saw our heroes — well, mine anyway, Jack and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. — murdered right in front of our eyes. And though you and I didn’t go to Vietnam, we watched our classmates die in a terrible mistake of a war and vowed never again. Some of us did.
But we also knocked down race and gender barriers and began to pay attention to planet Earth, and, if you recall, discovered a whole new mode of recreation along the way. Overall, we had a heckuva ride, as you might say.

But now, whether through our self-indulgence, shortsightedness or greed, we’ve pretty much trashed things for those who follow. And I am not OK with that.

I know that with only 28 percent of the nation backing you that you probably can’t do much about any of this, but you have said that you are the Decider.

So on this Mother’s Day I am asking you to decide to give us hope, because our children are having a hard time finding much of it. You could do that by embracing life and giving up the deadly folly of Iraq. You could do that by committing to the health care and education of all of America’s children, not just its golden upper crust. You could announce an all-out scientific effort — call it a crusade if that works better for you — to reverse the disastrous effects of global warming. Those are just a few of the ways you could give mothers everywhere something to celebrate.

For six years you’ve given us fear, and it’s taken a toll. This Mother’s Day, surprise us.