Re*Membering The Future - Thanksgiving 2009

Letter from the future to President - Elect Obama:

Thanksgiving, 2009
Dear President Obama,
It is almost Thanksgiving 2009. Our country is at peace and healing. Thank you! Before you were elected in 2008, I was terrified to have a child in this world. I couldn't bare to bring a baby into this world full of apathy, fear, and forgetting. I am no longer afraid. Thank you.

The wonderful things you have done in this first year of your presidency have brought our country back to life again. Your presidency has made me believe in the real American Dream of peace, equality, hard work and celebration. Thank you.

When you announced the Family Victory Garden (Americans feeding America) program at your inauguration, I cried. It was such a hands on approach, asking every American to roll up their sleeves, get their hands dirty and take part in our nation's Spring healing. We all understood the symbolism of the gardens. We grew our gardens for the soldiers who had died, the innocent who had been killed in Iraq, and for our own children who needed to learn that vegetables don't grow on grocery store shelves. I am thirty six years old. When you requested that every American family plant a garden in their yards, you made me truly believe in my country for the first time in my life.

Who knew so many hungry mouths could be fed from our own gardens. "Americans feeding America" was a great grassroots initiative. Our country will eat from the hands of our good citizens (men, women and children alike) for many years to come. When you, Michelle, and the girls, broke the frozen ground at The White House, the country broke ground with you. We all planted Victory gardens and our children learned to help tend them. That day, we all planted seeds of hope our hearts. Thank you!

By June the troops started coming home and we all gathered to celebrate the end of the Iraq war. Thank god! You took all the money being used for the war to create jobs, invest in education and develop sustainable energy resources. You made our borders safer by strengthening our diplomacy, rebuilding our dignity, and inspiring our willingness to fight for a democracy we can believe in.

Then, I don't know how you did it (I am not a lawyer or a government man), but you began to, one by one, hold every single crook, from the Bush administration, responsible for what he or she did during those painful eight years. You said you had to, otherwise your children would think it was okay to steal, cheat and lie. In addition, all the bankers and investors who made off with people's hard earned tax money in the 2008 bailout were investigated and tried for robbery, misconduct, and in some cases, even treason. Those tyrants had to sell every extra house they owned to pay the people back. Let's hope the money from the house sales will to give the people reimbursement checks and save our economy. Thank You!!

I'm especially thankful that you had the courage to run for president when the country was in such turmoil. I can only imagine how challenging, exhausting and, at times frustrating, the 2008 presidential race must have been for you. Even during the worst part of the storm, though, you kept your integrity. Your balanced, poetic and dependable character inspired us all to work hard, donate money, and come out of hiding to vote for you. Thank you!

You have begun to help us all save our country from spiritual, social and financial ruin. Now here's to creating a safe, unified and peaceful world for our children.

In trust and with respect,

Elizabeth Westergaard Kieraldo (aka Lizzie West)
(Norfolk, CT)