A Letter to Senator Barack Obama
Dear Senator Obama:
In fifth grade, I attended the neighborhood public school for the first time. Previously, I had attended a Montessori school in another town where children grades one to six all used the same classroom. My friends spanned all ages, and they were my friends because we all liked to play outside and disliked the principal.
At the public school, however, I only knew two boys, Paul and Sean. We had played on the same little league team. At recess, Paul, Sean, and I would chase butterflies and catch grasshoppers. We were happy.
Soon I began to notice that everybody else was playing football at recess, and the girls liked to watch those football-playing boys. One day the quarterback of one of the teams, Johnny Knickerbocker, asked me if I'd like to join them. My face flushed with pride, I asked if Paul and Sean could play too. He shook his head no. They were in the remedial program.
I played football every day from then on. Sean moved away, and Paul brought a tennis ball to school to throw against the wall at recess.
Senator, I know you're in with the cool kids now, but you don't have to do what they do. Voting against the Kerry/Feingold amendment to redeploy the troops in Iraq was wrong and will lead to the loss of innocents. But there is still time to change back into the man we thought that we elected.
Go ahead, ask Paul if he wants to play catch.
Yours truly,
JMH
In fifth grade, I attended the neighborhood public school for the first time. Previously, I had attended a Montessori school in another town where children grades one to six all used the same classroom. My friends spanned all ages, and they were my friends because we all liked to play outside and disliked the principal.
At the public school, however, I only knew two boys, Paul and Sean. We had played on the same little league team. At recess, Paul, Sean, and I would chase butterflies and catch grasshoppers. We were happy.
Soon I began to notice that everybody else was playing football at recess, and the girls liked to watch those football-playing boys. One day the quarterback of one of the teams, Johnny Knickerbocker, asked me if I'd like to join them. My face flushed with pride, I asked if Paul and Sean could play too. He shook his head no. They were in the remedial program.
I played football every day from then on. Sean moved away, and Paul brought a tennis ball to school to throw against the wall at recess.
Senator, I know you're in with the cool kids now, but you don't have to do what they do. Voting against the Kerry/Feingold amendment to redeploy the troops in Iraq was wrong and will lead to the loss of innocents. But there is still time to change back into the man we thought that we elected.
Go ahead, ask Paul if he wants to play catch.
Yours truly,
JMH
posted by JMH | 2:53 PM
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