An Open Letter to All...

I'm both frustrated and sad today. Two-thousand and nine is an incredible time to be alive in the course of human history, a time when the phrase "anything is possible" has never been more meaningful or more true. I can remember back 20 years ago when I still had no idea what to do with my life, before I ever conceived of being an author, and when I saw no feasible means of turning my love of art into a career due to the restrictions of my disability. Now I am not only working on my 7th book, but I am a graphic designer and artist who gets to do what I love while using those skills to help others achieve their own dreams. What could be better than that?

Just in my brief 44 years, I've seen things like cellphones and computers completely change and empower the individual, bringing us ever closer to a truly global community where the boundaries of location no longer prevents us from bonding with people around the world. We're developing into a society where race, creed, color, national origin, or sexual orientation no longer prevents us from recognizing the sheer beauty of the human being underneath. This momentous evolution was never more evident than when Barack Obama was elected President of the United States in a country where just 50 years before he would have had to sit in the backs of buses, enter public places through the back door, and drink out of separate fountains and use separate toilets, all because the color of his skin somehow branded him as a disease-less leper, a less-than-human being. It was a proud day for our country, and our world, and it seemed as if the last, greatest hurdle had finally been negotiated, and now we would race toward a day when ideals like racism were outdated cliche's that it would be impossible for future generations to even comprehend.

And then reality came crashing down upon our heads like a house of cards.

We've had Presidents who have lied, cheated on their wives, involved us in wars that never should have been and cost thousands of innocent soldiers to sacrifice their lives for causes that may not have been as just as we were led to believe, had a President who used the Oval Office as his private bordello, and another who sat back and watched with the rest of the world as an entire city suffered under the throes of a horrific natural disaster, and yet waited days before acting. And yet never have I seen as much disrespect and anger leveled at a President as the one currently holding the reigns.

When Barack Obama proposes universal health care for all, something that everyone supposedly agrees we need, he is vilified and people come out of the woodwork screaming as if he had suggested taking people's health care away.When he attempts to hit the ground running to tackle one of the biggest messes any President has ever inherited in our history, he's told he's moving too fast, and yet now, 8 months later, people are leveling the charge at him "What have you done?" He decides to speak to the nation's youth, and people fear he will use them as puppets to further his liberal "socialist" agenda, and then once he does speak, he's accused of being too "conservative." Exactly when did "Stay in school" become conservative rhetoric rather than a welcome life lesson every parent on the planet should be drilling into their children's heads from the moment they are born? And let's not even discuss Rev. Steven Anderson, the Arizona pastor who claims to be a man of God, and yet proudly declares that President Obama is the "kind of person God hates", and that he therefore prays for Obama's death.

And now we have Senator Joe Wilson of South Carolina, who stood up and shouted "Liar!" in the midst of the President's speech to Congress and the nation last night. I have never heard of this happening to President Bush, who many, including myself, were not fans of, nor would I have ever felt the need to disgrace myself, my position, or so disgustingly disrespect the Office of President over what is nothing more than a difference of philosophy and opinion. At what point did the idea of providing health care to those who can't afford it become such an anger-inspiring, communistic act? Have we grown into a country of arrogant elitists whose new battle cry is "Screw the poor!"? If everyone supposedly agrees that we need health care reform, then why are we so passionately fighting against one another, rather than channeling that passion into finding a common ground solution?

And even more upsetting is the question of why this President inspires such vileness, such anger, such hatred and resistance, such outright, unrestrained disrespect that no other President has ever seen before? Is it because he's from Chicago? Is it because he's an articulate, educated northerner instead of a down home good old boy politician from the South? Is it because he's a younger man in touch with today's world rather than an aging, white haired gentleman with values and ideals still mired in the 1950s and '60s? The man has proven himself to be someone at least willing to listen to other opinions, and who is empathetic to all, unlike the actions of our last President repeatedly illustrated. And yet it's THIS President for whom there is no middle ground, who one either loves or hates with the kind of passion and almost glee that boggles the mind and saddens the soul. What is it that is written on this man's face that causes people to look at him as less than the President, as someone deserving less civility and respect than all the Presidents who have sat in the chair before him?

Maybe it's the way he cuts his hair?

Maybe it's the kind of clothes he wears?

Perhaps it's his smooth stride?

Or his powerful words and articulate voice?

Or maybe people need to stop looking at the color of his skin and start seeing both the content of his character, or more importantly, stop pretending that any superficial garbage that they use to justify their hatred of the man in any way supersedes the fact that he, like 43 men of varied qualities and character before him, is the President of the United States. He is not, nor ever has been someone's "boy", and it's about time people stopped looking down on him and start looking up, because for better or worse, he is the leader of this country, and it's about damn time people started acknowledging that fact.

He is Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States, YOUR President, and nothing, not even the color of his skin, diminishes that. Time for this country to man up and show they have the guts to do what was once a distant and unlikely dream...to show due respect for a Black man. If he screws it up, he screws it up. But it won't be because his skin is darker than any President before him. It'll be because like every President before him, and every person reading this, as well as the man writing this, he's a less-than-perfect human being.

And if that's a crime worthy of casting stones, then we should all stand before a mirror and start casting stones at ourselves instead.

- GBB