Dear Barack Obama...

Dear President-Elect Obama,
First of all, it is refreshing to see a young, hope-filled person coming into power, and I hope the difficulties to come will not harden your optimistic outlook. As one of the countless voices in a sea of thus-far undistinguished faces, I pray my words may not be discounted. You, Mr. Obama, were one of us, your powerful voice was once unheard like mine, and now that you have a platform for all the world to hear, it is my wish that you can restore the ideals that once made this nation a beacon of hope for the rest of the world. The "hope" you've so vigorously preached in your campaign is the very same hope the founding fathers had when establishing our proud nation, and it must live again in the government.

Mr. President-Elect, our economy has fallen, it is quite obvious, but to revive her, no amount of money invested in corporations will do. The market moves by the will of the people, and if companies are no longer serving the people, but themselves, then the market will continue to be unstable and unprofitable. Remind the people that this failing economy is a sign of their own power. Companies are not serving their purpose, and the people's response is a withholding of their funds which has driven the stock market to fall. This is not a time of fear, but awakening, companies must now see that they must be responsible for consumer satisfaction. Mr. Obama, use this down-turn as a rallying cry for the American consumer. People have been taken advantage of and exploited by businesses focused on profits instead of utility, this recession is the voice of the people declaring, "No investment without the consumer's consent!"

In this time of global chaos, our troubles at home often take precedence over the troubles of the world, but Mr. Obama, as you more than any other president before you should know, America is a country made up of all the people of this world. We cannot abandon our brothers and sisters suffering overseas, but if we provide aid, it must not be in the mistaken manner of our past. We can not support one side while abandoning another. If troops are to be deployed they should not already have targets painted on their backs before they land. If America is needed abroad we should be there to help all people, regardless of nation, regime, or creed. The terrorists we have been so viciously hunting are born out of our own violence. They are not mindless demons, but desperate people motivated by tragedy, heartbreak, or starvation to do the deplorable acts for which they are hunted. By not understanding that these radicals are bred out of hate and destruction, inequality and oppression, we can never hope to make the world safe. It may seem a much more difficult task to combat intangible enemies like hate, injustice, and oppression, but those are the true enemies, and though people may demonstrate those vile aspects, no victory can be won by the loss of life. This may seam quite ideological, and perhaps naive, but true hope means believing even during the darkest times. Hope is not misplaced, I have seen catholics and protestants embrace in friendship, I have read of Israelis and Palestinians acting like brothers on a soccer field, I have watched as countries who have openly condemned the United States chanting with pride your very name sir, while waving our flag which was once burned in those same streets.

Mr. Obama, I will be honest, I did not vote in this last election though I was of age. I did not vote not because I am unpatriotic, but because I wanted to see the will of the people unfold before me. I did support you then as I support you now, but I wanted to remove my voice from the masses to see if they would echo it, and it seems that my faith was not merely echoed, but resonated throughout the nation. You sir are our voice, America's voice, and America, unlike any nation before her, and any nation since, is a nation of the world. This world is hungry for change.
It is hungry for comfort and equality, and it is hungry for peace. Mr. Obama, I believe that it is time for this starvation to end. We have the ability, the passion, and the resources of the entire world within our borders to make this change, and I hope, with all the passion you have hoped, that you may lead us there.


Sincerely,
Andrew Moravick

An Intellectual Reflection on Unintellectual Events

So as a college student, its almost expected that I go out and party on a Saturday night... So I did, and once again found no real benefit from the experience... as usual. Yet, every weekend night the scene is repeated, one way or another. We lose ourselves in the inebriated masses, or in the intoxicating beverages we carelessly consume, and find our fun from the freedom to be a fool in a forum where it is expected. Of course the fun also comes from the loss of inhibitions which supposedly allows us to more easily and confidently converse with the opposite sex in order to feel free enough to fornicate, although often the plans involve much simpler terms.

However, this particular practice of my plastered peers bothers me deeply. Alcohol is a depressant, a substance that dulls our senses and coordination so that all the splendor of life is blurred in a drunken haze. To have sex or make love is an act that sets our senses on fire, and awakens our bodies and minds to all the pleasures that life can contain. Clearly, by being under the influence when sharing one's self with another the act is less satisfying, meaningful, and usually vastly less memorable. Why people do it is simple though, the need is always there, we all desire love, but the difference is that we all may interpret love in a different way. Thus, those who see love as just a result of a shared physical attraction, the apparent logical means to acquire that love would be to take any shared physical attraction to its obvious conclusion. Alcohol, in this case is merely a social performance enhancer, which allows one to suppress all the fear and uncertainty that comes with trying to entice another to share one's bed.

Yet I do not share this idea of love. The fear and uncertainty that comes when a man recognizes beauty manifested in a woman, or when a woman recognizes beauty manifested in a man is not something to be suppressed or drowned away with alcohol. It is natural for people to be struck with awe in the presence of a beautiful painting, landscape, or moment in life, and the same should apply for when one encounters beauty in another person. This fear or awe of a beautiful person comes from a recognition of the immense power that love possesses to help us to transcend the mundane trivialities of life, and live for something greater than ourselves. To dull this sense with alcohol or merely ignore it as a social weakness, is to dull or ignore our own humanity.

These ideas, whether they may seem revolutionary, trivial, or simply common sense are not new. Plato, expressed these views almost 2,500 years ago in a work called the Phaedo. He however was revolting against a practice of philosophers during his time having carnal relations with their apprentices. Now today, most would argue that making love while drunk is not nearly as bad as those philosophers who took advantage of their pupils so long ago, but I argue that the problem is the same. Today, we see sex as just a primal desire that can be silenced by simply being fed, and in ancient Greece, the view of those philosophers who had outraged Plato is actually the same. In antiquity, they believed that the body was in conflict with the soul, and today we seem to have reverted to that same point of view. Politicians today, for example, are so afraid of having a natural sexual relationship with their own wives, that they bottle up their emotions until they can't resist anymore and explode in scandalous activity.

Plato, and I, if I am not out of place associating with his genius, would argue that the body and soul are not in conflict. I can give plenty of examples of instances when the bodily drives can lead to the satisfaction of the soul as well. Take athletics, the body's drive to compete and succeed gives the soul confidence and value in itself, and the soul's desire to succeed in those realms as well can drive the body to even further improvement. Love is no different. It does not conflict with reason but enhances it, if we are aware of all the complexity inherent to love.

Back to the party experience for a minute... The difference here, is that love is separated, there is sex, and there is love. Some people go out to these parties simply looking for sex, others looking to find someone to fall in love with, and of course some just want to get drunk, but the separation of sexual desire and the desire to love as shown here is a troubling issue.

Now it is possible to separate sex and love; one can be in love without having sex, and have sex without being in love, and both can be satisfying to a degree. The desire for sex and love however can not be separated. We simply try to satisfy it via sex or love when in actuality both desires are leading us toward the same thing.

Arguably, my gender, (men) are much worse at understanding the truth about the human desire to love. Which is why at the party I was at last night, there was a vastly greater number of guys, and most acting foolishly in an attempt to win the favor of what girls were there. The girls on the other hand, most likely were there blowing off steam but had faint hopes of finding some sort of deep connection, but assuming that every guy who talked to them just wanted sex. The biggest problem though is that both guys and girls expect to find some sort of satisfaction in these drunken encounters.

Furthermore, guys, or at least in my case, feel that women are more apt to be attracted to those who are confident than those who are struck by the true nature of the woman's beauty. So we desensitize ourselves with alcohol so that we nolonger are aware of true beauty and are not struck speachless. Women then understand this to be the normal male behavior and expect that those who are struck by their beauty are simply less confident, and less desirable. Thus, it seems both genders perpetuate the dulling of our senses and loss of understanding about beauty and love.

To end this long running reflection, I'd like to suggest something to anyone who takes the time to read this. For any men like myself; don't be ashamed of that fear that overwhelms you when you see beauty manifested in a woman. That is what you should feel, and it will lead you to find a love that is satisfying in every way. And women; don't take men who are stunned by your beauty as unconfident or unmanly. The most manly thing is to face one's fear, not deny it or hide it beneath a veil of intoxication or feigned confidence. For everyone, the desire to love is the most reasonable thing of all. It is not dirty or disgusting or perverse, but if it is allowed to be nothing more than a merely pleasurable fluid exchange, that's when we should be most disgusted.

RETURN OF THE RANT!

This rant has been brewing since Saturday night and by now it has worked up quite a potent consistency. That night, I decided to go out to a party for once, see some of my friends, socialize, and just unwind after a rather long day. For some reason, for a few drastically delusional divas, this was not acceptable. My innocent presence appeared to them to be an attempt to get into their pants. At one point a group of apparent strumpets-in-training were dancing near where I had left my party supplies, but it seemed to them, that my only reason for being there was to try to seduce them to do horrible things (as if filling one's body with alcohol to the point that all senses are numbed isn't horrible enough to do to one's self) and with their senses dulled they said, thinking I couldn't hear them, "we should probably move, we don't want to be raped." Now I have no qualms with women being cautious and safe, however 1. these were not women, 2. I had made no advances,nor had any intention of contracting any of their venereal diseases, and 3. Suggesting an innocent, kind hearted person is a rapist is like raping the character and reputation of that person... oh and 4. I doubt anyone would even want to have consensual sex with them let alone rape them!

Now that event on its own seems more comical than infuriating, like a nudist worrying about someone stealing their clothes. But I was so unfortunate to experience other acts of girl's egos gone wild that night which ignited this fiery rant. A few girls I knew from other collegiate activities showed up at the party, and normally, when one sees people they recognize, a friendly greeting is proper and customary. However apparently saying hello, means "I want to get in your pants" and the only proper response is a to say "hi" then give a glance of pure disgust to the greeter. Once more, that alone would not have bothered me, but then, those same girls, who were clearly offended by the abhorred word "hello" happened to be in a room with one of my friends. Now once again, it is quite normal for a person to go talk to their friends, but apparently, me being in that room was yet another sign of me trying to get in their supposedly desirable pants, and they left the room without saying a word, but scoffing, and exchanging glances that clearly said, "run, before he sullies our oh so shameless names by possibly asking if we're having a good time." At this point it was clear that I was making them uncomfortable by being there, and being a gentleman, I decided to leave.

The outrageous thing is, I should not have felt like it was necessary for me to leave. I felt unwelcome because a few people thought that my presence, as an invited guest, as a friend and teammate of one of the hosts was unacceptable because they thought I was just there to have my way with them, while not actually knowing anything about me.

This is the root of the problem... gossip and here say, "Oh I heard he's a creep, so you better stay away..." when they don't wonder "well who says he's a creep" and then come to discover it was one crazy girl who may have been put off because the so called creep wasn't interested in her. Which seems to be my predicament, but for women too, the modern version of the scarlet letter haunts many innocent girls and women when they're called "sluts" just because they may have once or twice given in to natural desires which we all are troubled by at one point or another. The only true slut is the person who violates the reputations of other people by thrusting in their own ignorant judgments on matters which do not even involve them.

However, I give other people too much credit. In general, the social interactions of people are pretty disorderly, and often comically pathetic. There is no real way to find order or fairness in social interaction because social activity itself is governed by the masses, and the masses, though home to a few intelligent individuals, as a whole are mindless and obey only its own shared desires.

There can be no faith in people, only individual people with faith that someday,there will be enough bold individuals to show all the people who they really are, and to be truly united, every person must be an individual above being a part of the masses...