Thanks For The Handshake, President Obama

Is anyone besides me tired of the uproar over United States President Barrack Obama shaking hands with Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez last week?

No, of course President Chavez isn't someone most citizens of the United States would like to take home for dinner. Yes, President Chavez will use the handshake for his own political purposes; he's a politician. No, he hasn't shown much respect for the United States or its past and current leadership. But why should these facts mean the handshake was wrong?

What was the alternative? Should President Obama have ignored him, or traded insult for insult? Like it or not, President Chavez is the current leader of his country. He deserves to be treated respectfully, simply out of respect for the people he represents, even if he hasn't personally earned it.

Putting all the hype aside, how does one treat an ordinary bully? By behaving as the bully does? Or by being the more civilized one and treating him as he ought to be treating others? Yes, sometimes one has to defend oneself against bullies, but President Chavez is not likely to order an attack against the United States, except with words. And as the old Earth saying goes, "sticks and stones..."

The proper response was to treat the Venezuelan head of state as one would treat any other head of state ~ with polite courtesy, and an eye toward what the future might hold for the relationship between their two countries. And unless one wants the future to hold more insults and posturing, then the handshake was the proper response.

It's been suggested that the handshake may have originated as a gesture to show that the hand held no weapons and was therefor offered in peace. Sounds like what Earthers need are more handshakes with their adversaries, not less.

The Day They Thought Would Never Come

It's Presidential Inauguration day in the United States. "I never thought this day would come while I was still alive", is the statement I most hear from the humans around me, as they watch Barack Obama take the oath of office to become the 44th President.

When I was born, slavery had yet to be abolished in this country. It has taken a civil war, civil strife, the sacrifice of eloquent leaders and the eloquent contributions of those ordinary people who took a stand and suffered the consequences, to arrive at this day. It has taken more than a century and a half to make the journey from one brave President's proclamation that the United States could no longer operate under the shadow of slavery, to this moment when another brave President could lay his hand on that same bible and become the first black man to ascend to the highest office of this country.

For a century and a half, I have watched humans as they learn what they can tolerate, and what they cannot. Today I watched as the people of this country allowed themselves to imagine a new way of looking at the world, one based on hope, personal responsibility and connection with their fellow humans. A world where race, gender, and religion are no longer issues which divide, but simply some of the characteristics which make each human unique.

It's been a very good day.