DAWNING - A POEM TO COMMEMORATE THE ELECTION OF BARACK OBAMA

DAWNING

In a cold place, some warmth.
In a dark place, a glimmer of light.
In a time of takers, in a new world of pariahs’s, an arrival of illumination.
In a room with 13 tables, arguments, passions, quill pens, and courage.

In a field of others dreams, the nightmares of rope and chains.
In the sun, no shade, in the winter, pain and longing.
In a lanky, lovely, lonely man, a spark of humanity that becomes a bonfire of revolution, maiming brothers, splitting rivers, dividing reason, then healing wounds with soft touch and hard loving.

Four score and then some later, self aware, the sunlight beckons us towards noon.
Dark forces evolve, rise up, are met, then lay down.
Science is unleashed on the world, and the spectacle of man’s leap into forever almost blinds ua.

In times of turmoil, a still voice is easiest to hear.
In a world of misunderstanding, a steady truth can meet any obstacle.
In a place of revolution, evolution.
In an eagle’s talon, an olive branch.

So much to think about at this moment.
This pushing, unyielding moment, calling us to a higher mind, a more perfect heart.
So much to think about with the sun in our eyes, the stars blocked out.
Still we know they are there.

If a moment can be captured, let us set it free.
If an idea can catch fire, let’s help it to burn a steady truth.
If a nation can come together to better itself, let us in earnest begin this process.
For we are a nation of process.
Let us now join together to begin a new process.
The process of becoming, the process of forgiving, the process of unfolding, the process of dawning.



Rick S. Mordecon

Swearing in American presidents on the Constitution, not the bible

As Barack Obama gets ready to take office, a thought has been plaguing me. Why are our presidents and for that matter all of our elected officials sworn in on the Bible? We are not a Theocracy, we are a Democracy, and the guiding tenets and principals of that Democracy are not laid out in the Bible, but in the constitution of the United States of America. In fact, if we adhere literally to the bible we would not have much of a democracy at all. We'd have a nation which sacrifices it's sons, turns people to stone, and accomplishes most things with some sort of violence. And there's the point. Besides the turning to stone part, we as a nation HAVE sometimes adhered to the laws of the Bible, more often than not at the peril of the laws of our nation. We are not answerable to a higher power as Americans. We are answerable to our constitution and our own moral compasses. I am calling for a changing of the guard. if Mr Obama truly wants to swear his allegiance to a worthy American document which protects all of us, not just the religiously faithful, he and every public office holder after him should have their hands squarely placed on the original copy of the constitution of the United States.