At this time last year my husband and I were in Washington DC with over a million other Americans celebrating President Obama’s inauguration.  It was one of the best moments in my life.  I will never forget the solidarity of the crowd of all races and the pure joy of the moment.  Well, we have been to the mountain top, and now we are in the valley.

It is 2010 and here’s to a new year.  The best news is that I have a new shelter kitty named Sasha (she is really a teen cat).  I went to the Twin Falls shelter to volunteer…ha!  Three days later, I have a new friend.  She is funny and sweet.  She likes to sleep on high hard surfaces and tests the water with her paw.  She does not come when she is called like Angel, but she is getting more affectionate each day.  Her favorite pastime is squirrel watching. 

I was hoping that 2010 would be a great new year, but so far I feel like just offering the whole planet up in prayer.  I can remember some Simon and Garfunkel song from long ago about “a little good news!” what with the devastation in Haiti, the looming challenges for Democrats regarding the passage of health care and the upset and election of Brown for Senator Kennedy’s seat in Mass. things look bleak.  Still there are sure signs of hope.  In the face of falling approval ratings, President Obama is still the most admired man in the country, the outpouring of money, millions of dollars have been raised to help the people of Haiti, and here in Idaho, we have a new candidate for Governor that has the Democrats excited. 

The election in Mass. should be a wake up call to all democrats and progressives in the country.  I, for one, am tried of all the infighting and name calling.  Some big names in the party are pointing a finger at Martha Coakley.  There is no doubt that her 19 rallies versus Brown’s 66 were a problem, but I think that Obama and all the democratic senators and congressmen and women don’t realize the anger and frustrations of the American public.  The democrats have not done a good job of keeping their finger on the pulse of moderates and the far right has taken advantage to the maximum.  When tea baggers show up to protest a tiny meeting in our small town, you know that there is trouble on the horizon.  I think that it is time that everyone on the left needs to realize that this is nothing less that an all-out war by tea-baggers and the GOP against any liberal agenda.  Believe you me; the Democrats in Twin Falls and Idaho know it. 

It is time that some of the bloggers like Markos, other liberal media pundits, and party leaders realize that they have to unite with the rest of the party and get things done.  Those infamous blue dogs knew that there was a backlash coming, but they also need to know that they were elected as democrats.  Come on everybody and quit crying the blues and get to work! 

Howard Dean stated today that some of the Democrats in Mass. voted for Brown because there was no public option.  Maybe a few did, but this sounds delusional to me.  I agree with Chris Matthews on this one; they voted for Brown because he ran a good campaign and voters are confused and frightened by what they perceive the health care bill to be.  Dean is right in that if we abandon health care now, voters will only have the lies they have heard and have a bad taste for anything democratic.  I think that the voters saw the Nebraska deal and said this stinks.  And it did and does. 

If the Democratic Party in this country wants to reverse this runaway train, they have to get real and get in touch with the fears and anguish of the American people.  Dean is confused if he thinks the only reason Democrats voted for Brown is that Democrat legislation is too moderate.  Voters are buying the story that the Democrats are big government and that they are going to spend their children’s inheritance.   Someone needs to get on it and yell about the fact that insurance industry’s stocks skyrocketed yesterday when the traders thought that health care would fail.  This is the reality of the GOP and Brown; Mr. Independent who voted 96% + with the republicans in 2009.   

Anyone who thinks that the GOP is a populist party and will look out for the little guy is smoking crack.  The tea baggers have their points and uniting with the GOP can defeat Democrats, but the GOP are the ones that brought us to this economic disaster.  If you think the democrats are in bed with special interests, you better take a look at the guys you are cozying up with, too.  No, things are not going well.  The war in Afghanistan is escalating, unemployment is still high, and housing starts are only barely looking better. 

 Maybe it would be good to reflect back on what we witnessed in the fall of 2008.  Remember how the sky was falling?  We have been handed much and then we chose to take on the toughest issue ever in trying to pass health care.  Obama has said along that change isn’t going to be easy.  We nominated him and thought everything would magically change?  Have we forgotten what kind of push back Clinton and even Carter got?  What did you do to make the difference lately?  It is easy to sit and complain.  Have you signed up to be a precinct captain or a neighborhood leader?  Did you volunteer to drive someone to the polls or get out the vote?  Did you call into Mass.?  I did and I wish I had called sooner and done more.  You say you are burnt out and spent out!  Me too, but should we just sit back and let a mobilized right wing movement take over the country?

 Haiti is an example of an event where two former leaders of our country can get together…it seems incredible that the members of our own party cannot get together to make health care happen or even win an election in one of the most Democratic states in the Union.  I think that Obama is right tonight when he said that the voters in Mass. voted for Brown for the same reason they voted for him…they are hungry for change.  I seem to remember a slogan that has been credited to the Native Americans…be the change you want to see.  So let’s roll up our sleeves, quit name calling, and infighting and do it! If we don’t figure this out soon we will watch every bit of progress we have made be rolled back. 

 Sounds hard?  Yeah and we have the first Black President that many said would never happen, significant new legislation in the Ledbetter Bill for women, and we are closer than ever before in passing health care legislation for most of the people in this country.  Hard is nothing compared to the struggles for the citizens of Haiti or Afghanistan or other underdeveloped nations? 

 I have heard stories about looting and gang violence in Haiti.  Last night on BBC radio I heard story after story from world health organizations that were on the ground there tell how patient and respectful the Haitian people were.  One Catholic relief worker said that he saw “grace personified” in them.  So much is focused on the negatives in any news event.  We all wait for the bad news and no one even bothers to report the good news most of the time. 

 I personally think that the people of Haiti and others who live in underdeveloped or developing countries have lessons to teach the rest of us.  I had the honor of working in Grenada after Hurricane Ivan.  I went down with fifteen others from our church and we worked to build a new home for one family, painted, did repairs on various sites, and taught some classes.  The daughter of our dear friends organized the trip.  She was with the Peace Corp there when Ivan hit.  This tiny island has been blasted time and time and again by hurricanes, but the spirit of the people there is amazing.  Becca was so moved by the concern and care given her when most of the people around here had lost so much.  They had experienced hard times again and again.  They quickly went about the business of recovering with so little.  I went down there expecting to give of my time and limited talents, but the people of Grenada gave so much more to me.  They even staged a mini strike against a resort that had refused to serve us (we were Peace Corp riffraff to one hotel there when an interracial couple showed up).  Becca was amazed when one of her friends asked her to sign a petition protesting the ill treatment of us!  Everyone I met there was appreciative of the little help we gave and looked out for us.  I realized that for many who have so little there is wisdom for those of us who have so much.

 I just started reading Greg Mortenson’s second book Stones into Schools.  In the opening pages of this mountain climber turned advocate for education for the children, especially girls of Afghanistan and Pakistan, he writes that “God never lets the kerosene of hope run dry.”  This was said by Nasreen, a young Pakistani woman who dreamed of becoming a healthcare provider for over 23 years.  Her dreams started after she attended one of the first co-educational schools in North Pakistan.  The spark of hope was never extinguished even when her cruel stepmother harassed her and did everything possible to derail her education.  She finally received a scholarship in 1999 for $1,200 to return to school but her mother-in-law , fearing Nasreen would neglect her son, applied to tribal elders and Nasreen was denied again.  She tolled as a virtual slave as a young girl and then tolled for ten more years tending goats, tilling potatoes fields, and hauling water and fuel.  Nasreen had three children and suffered two miscarriages without benefit of the adequate health care she dreamed of providing for her people.  She keep her dream alive by caring for the sick and dying in her community.  “The lamp in my life refused to be snuffed out,“ she said.  Finally in 2007 the elders allowed her to resume her studies.  Today she is only a year away from finishing her medical training, but she has decided to complete an OB-GYN nursing degree and return to one of the most lost and forbidding places on earth to provide health care.  Nasreen has no bitterness about the “lost years” and feels as if the experience has “imparted some essential insights.” 

 I hope that 2009 and the beginning of 2010 will be times of reflection for us all.  As I watch the tragedy of the quake in Haiti, I must believe that we can come out the other side of this and rebuild a better place for the victims of the disaster.  I hope that my party, the party that stands for equality for ALL Americans, can move forward and tap into this hope to rebuild a better America for all of us.  Remember, no one ever said it would be easy!