BACK TO BEING
I have had a strange feeling, ever since the current
Administration took the helm in Washington, D.C. That rather vague
realization has grown, as the weeks and months have gone by, and I
feel I can, at last, put the sensation into words. I feel that we can now
think of ourselves as have gone “back to being”. We have had good
reason, in recent months, to be proud of our national leadership
instead of being a bit ashamed of it with scandal and chicaneryrunning rife.
I look back on the past few years and see how” adrift” we seem
to have been; how we lacked confidence in our national leadership
and, hence, in all levels of authority to which we are subject.
We have evidence of our having rediscovered purpose and
direction in our national life. We are free of having to be on guard in the
presence of policy makers of foreign powers and that we can now
speak out with confidence and assurance that our word will be the
bond which establishes true and enduring associations with othernations.
In a musical setting, it may now be said that we are no longer
playing in an ad lib fashion. We are attentive to the exact notations of
the score, exhibiting much more appreciation of the intentions of the
composers of our destiny among nations. We are no longer playing by
ear, winging it, jamming - and certainly not faking it! It is becoming
increasing obvious that other national leaders are listening with
greater understanding of our intended role in events which concern all
of us. They are showing greater respect for our conduct, by and large,
and our enemies of the Terroriost types must also have realized we
have changed dramatically and can no longer be viewed as apushover.
Some of our recovery has been slowed, perhaps, by uncertainies
which might follow coming out of a bad dream, or a recovery from a
time of ill health or withdrawal.
As I have seen the type of associates President George W. Bush
has chosen to assist him, I have grow more and more confident that
we are ,indeed, back on track and now moving toward worthy goals
once more. Even more impressive is the fact that he appears to have
let them do their assigned jobs without petty bickering from
headquarters. He is ,at the moment, a war time president operating
without an official Declaration of War and thus without some of the
authority which is usually accepted as “Presidential” by factions within
our government, segments of the much accused media, and even
among large groups of citizens-in-name-only.
It’s still too early, perhaps, to evaluate the present
administration. A hasty judgment can create questionable results, but I
do think we have early indications that we are free of a burden we
carried for eight years and ready, now, to regain and hold our proper
place among the nations. A.L.M. June 6, 2002 {c503wds]
