Nobel Peace Prize Winner Barak Obama

barak-obama

Originally uploaded by blvesboy

Mike and I were still in bed, just waking up and gathering our strength to face the day. NPR was on in the other room and suddenly we were sitting straight up, straining to see if we heard correctly: President Barak Obama awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

We heard correctly. Rushing out to the kitchen to grab our cups of coffee and settle in to listen to the unfolding story. NPR reporters repeated the news: President Barak Obama awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. We clinked our coffee cups and broad smiles spread across our faces.

My next sentence: I wonder how the Right and the Republicans will turn this into something bad, something negative. How will they dismiss this?

Surfing up Google News, the first headline: Obama Peace Prize has Americans Wondering Why. The second headline: GOP Chairman Scoffs at Award.

So that’s how it will happen. The so-called ‘liberal media’ is, within moments, telling how Obama doesn’t deserve this. It’s out asking: what has he done to deserve this. And the Republicans are on message even with this stunning announcement: it’s because he’s tricked people; because he’s a star. Not because he has contributed in any way to the peace of our world; to the future of peace in our world.

So the Republicans are siding with the Taliban who also condemn Obama for being awarded this.

The Noble Prize Committee can award this to anyone, for whatever reason they wish. That they believe the world is better, that there is more hope for peace just a few months after the Bush Presidency is telling.

He has been in office less than 1 year.  He is working to overturn policies and the damage done by the previous administration.    The prize has been awarded, by the words of the Noble Committee, because of the values, beliefs, and the possibility of a better world.   Inspiration is a valuable.  Building bridges is valuable.  Changing the opinion of the world toward America is valuable.  And what is wrong with granting an award that creates the requirement that the recipient live up to the belief invested in him.

This is a new era.  This is a time when we must reach for the stars and maybe, just maybe, we need to invest in the future, to invest in people who may have a chance to tranform our world.

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Going Home

After 60 days of being somewhere else, either a hotel room, a hospital room, a friend’s or relative’s house, I’m headed home.

For a little more than a week now, I’ve said “I’m heading home on Saturday.”  Or “I’m going home on the 19th.”  It wasn’t until I tried to write out the date, 9/19/09 that I realized how perfect it was that this was my going home date.

I was married on 1/19/91.  Now, another day of 9s sends me home again to be with Mike and the animals in our own house.   9/19/09 is also the beginning of Rosh Hashanah.  The new year.   A sign from the universe that I am ready; that this is the right decision.  At least it would be if I believed in signs and omens.  Okay, I do believe in them just a little; just enough to use them to support my decision when people ask me if I’m sure I’m ready.

Going home is the start of the next part of this adventure I’m having with cancer and illness and recovery.   I have had only one mission, only one responsibility these past 60 days:  get better.  I have created routines and patterns that support that mission.  Exercise, PT homework, yoga, water, water, water, good food, the company of good friends and lots of time with Mike and Rigley.  Lots of time with those that love and support me.   This is not the pattern I had before I knew I was sick.

I like this pattern better.  I like these habits more.

I am trepid about re-entering the world.  I still need the recovery habits:  I need to nap.  I need my friends and family.  I need sleep, yoga, exercise, PT homework.  But now I need to add the work of work and the work of being in my own house with my own responsibilities. God how I will miss someone else making my bed!

I do not want to fall back into the quagmire of  habits from my pre-surgery life.  I am not interested in 18 hour work days and never having time for my family and friends, let alone for taking care of myself.    I want to throw out all the stuff in my closets and drawers and cupboards that no longer serve me.  I want to strip down my possessions and my life to only those things that matter, that serve me now.

In my yoga practice, one of the intentions I say during breath work is, on exhale to say in my mind, I release what I don’t need.  On the inhale I say in my mind, I breath in what I need.   This intentional meditation is helping me see how much of what I do is no longer needed;  the old things, the old thinking, the old patterns to support my old life.  I don’t need them any more.  I am not that person any more.  In some cases I haven’t been that person for decades.  Yet the old thinking, the old physical stuff, is still part of my life.   I am still dragging it around, making room for it in my closets, my basement, my mind and my relationships.

So today I say to myself:  Shona Tova and wish my self a good and sweet year.