Mr. Obama got it right

I have never posted two moodlings in one day -- until now. I can't help myself today because Barack Obama made an amazing and inspiring speech last night, one that is still resonating in the chambers of my soul.

I'm generally not one to pay heed to American politics because the rhetoric below the 49th parallel carries far too much anger and vitriol for me to stomach for more than a few minutes. But the shootings at the meeting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Arizona and U.S. public reaction to it has caught my attention. As horrible as it is that something so terrible happened, I listened to President Obama's memorial speech with a sense of hope for our neighbours to the south.

Mr. Obama got so much right last night. He said many things, but this jumped out at me:

...what we cannot do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on each other... As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility, rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame. Let's use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and to remind ourselves of how our hopes and dreams are bound together. 

He went on to speak about how tragedy shakes us out of our routines and forces us to look inward, to reflect on our past, present and future. He pointed out that times of loss are a good place to take stock of how we live our lives and nurture our relationships, and he offered what I'd call an excellent "examination of conscience" for such times:

Do we show enough kindness, generosity and compassion to those around us?
Are we doing right by our families, our communities?
Do we have our priorities in order?
In the short lives we have to live, do we recognize that the important things are not wealth, status, power or fame, but how well we have loved?
Do our actions align with our values?
Are we always striving to be better people, and to widen our circle of concern?

The above is a brief and woefully inadequate paraphrase of a very powerful 30-minute speech that can be seen at
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/01/12/us/1248069557385/obama-calls-for-civility-in-politics.html

It is too easy on almost any occasion to judge the attitudes and actions of others who are not like us, but as the President explained so well, that's not what's needed in our world. Judgment ostracizes and divides people, but compassion unites them. Judgement wouldn't do a thing for the two homeless guys who came in to warm up on a -33C (-27F) Edmonton morning, but offering them some warm mitts and sharing a few laughs built a connection between us. Mr. Obama's speech holds true in any difficult situation you care to name.

Thank you, Mr. President, for the reminder. I hope a lot of people are listening, because it's well worth hearing!