Jul
7
2008
I have looked fondly on the past eight years of my life. Being a 20-something now, what has came and went has been very influential in shaping who I am today. I became a freshmen in college and 9/11 occurred. I was heartbroken and I wore black every Tuesday for the year after that. Yet I also competed in Speech and Debate with some of the most renown teams in the country (PLNU, APU).
During my college years (Mr Bush’s first term), I wrote a poem to him. I used that poem, amongst others, to show honor to those in leadership. Being right-winged in an extremely liberal extra-curricular activity was not popular. Yet I still did it. And people loved it. I gave it my all in the poem that was my perspective of what I would do if I ever met you.
I’ll never forget performing it at Forensic Nationals in Manhattan, Kansas. And I’ll never forget what you’ve done to shape our country in the past eight years. You’ve left an impression. You’ve left a legacy. And you’ve left much reason for poetry.
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July 14th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
I must say that using the vernacular “poetry” to describe perhaps the most inarticulate President in our history did catch my attention and after reading your post…… left me on the floor crying of laughter. So to the intellectual era of Hannah Montana newbies like yourself I decided to compose a little letter. I hope for you to be as brave in reading these words and taking them to heart as your are in touting your immense public speaking abilities Jenn.
My dear little conservative 20 somethings,
As a more seasoned perspective looks back upon the last few years of this country’s malaise and inaction and indifference in the face of a tyrannical government that sees fit to curtail our liberties at every turn. I must say that the older generation of thinking has failed. The older generation has failed you if you can honestly and in non-partisan fashion look at this form of leadership and see something positive. Whether it’s a psychological hang-up to please a ranting raving right-wing family member or a simple unwillingness to look at others who have and continue to suffer under this regime- for a young person to think this administration has “poetry” in it is to betray an underlying disbelief in Democracy and to reveal a latent belief in fascism. When young and unfeeling myself so many years ago….. I too believed in the seductive myths of beauty through force and mistaken notion that the imposition of my own will upon others would lead to order. This sums up our current leader and his condensed mindset. However, the dark truth is that such actions and belief have led to suffering…. deep, inhuman, and cruel suffering. Perhaps it is my attempt to teach a younger mind how to avoid the same mistakes I made, or perhaps its my dismay at reading a blog from a younger person who is apparently unable to see through the veneer of distortion and propoganda. Whatever the reason, time and experience have proven to me that as you 20 somethings grow up and learn to read more thoughtful books like 1984, Moby Dick, and any Charles Dickens novel and leave behind the sophomoric writings of demagogues like the late William F. Buckley… the flavors of truth will wet your palate. As your horizons expand, you will come to seek the poetry in the living of a good life rather than any salute to a clouded ideology of power.