I want to believe

Dear Mr. President:

I really want to believe that if I vote for you - again - that things will get better.

I want to believe that my two out of work brother-in-laws will soon find work, despite one of them being laid off for a year now and the other having a nervous break down and not getting paid disability by UPS. One sister already lost the home that they built themselves, I hope the other one doesn't lose hers.

I really want to hope that my brand new 5 week old granddaughter will grow up in a world where she won't be blown to bits at school by some terrorists seeking to make their obscure and hateful point. It's hard to imagine there's an effective yet peaceful way of dealing with people who so little respect life that they strap explosives to the backs of their own children and shoot others in the back.

I really pray that my fiancé will be able to get the respect he deserves, commensurate with his intelligence and skills, and that we can live in a world where the fact that we have different skin colors won't matter to anyone except the artist who paints our picture. Yet, I have had to watch in horror, over and over again, while people who say they are Christian treat him (and me) with disdain and fear, based only upon race and appearances.

I pray that my mom and his mom doesn't die of their cancer and that we spend more money on finding cures for this disease (in all it's evil permutations) instead of pouring money into projects that benefit the rich and support only greed.

And finally, I really would like to believe that someone running this country had a real chance of being a true hero, rather than a political genius and mud-slinging survivor who cares more about power then people.

But I really don't know if my voting for you, or against you, will have any impact on any of that.

I live in a state so small that our electoral vote is something of a joke. And I have worked around politics and politicians long enough to know that even the most idealistic among them cannot really get much done in the way of making huge changes after societal inertia sets in.

Please, for the sake of the nation and your soul, don't be merely a really well trained "talking head", conscience that everything you say and do is being judged and edited by the media, and viewed by a public too shallow and lazy to look beyond short sound-bites designed to placate rather than educate. Please, mean what you say about your relationship with our Lord, and make decisions with the values of Mother Teresa instead of Margaret Thatcher. Please tell the truth and let who think winning an election is more important then the truth be shown that they are wrong. Please do not let the crazies take over this world and country. Please, if you do win another term, give those of us who have had very little to be happy about some hope that our lives here on earth can yet be things of beauty and joy.

We pray for you. Please work for us. Please be an example to the world of what a true leader can be. Use Jesus (or Buddha, I don't care) as the model, even if you have to throw in some Patton once in awhile!

In a world where the rich continue to thrive, but the middle class is daily losing heart, ground and hope, it is hard to look forward to a future that is anything but bleak.

Sincerely,

Theresa
Age 51
Lawrence, Kansas