An amazing and inspiring speech, so let's get started.

[eomer]

President Obama's words last night were beautiful. They were also profound, but only if they turn out to be more than mere words; only if actions will follow that form the embodiment of the words he so eloquently spoke.

I'm ready to start and I'm hopeful that the President is too. I call on him to get started right now. In particular, let's get busy finding the embodiment in actions for this inspiring passage:

I believe we can be better. Those who died here, those who saved lives here --they help me believe. We may not be able to stop all evil in the world, but I know that how we treat one another is entirely up to us. I believe that for all our imperfections, we are full of decency and goodness, and that the forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us.

That's what I believe, in part because that's what a child like Christina Taylor Green believed. Imagine: here was a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy; just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship; just starting to glimpse the fact that someday she too might play a part in shaping her nation's future. She had been elected to her student council; she saw public service as something exciting, something hopeful. She was off to meet her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a role model. She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted.

I want us to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it. All of us -- we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children's expectations.

Christina was given to us on September 11th, 2001, one of 50 babies born that day to be pictured in a book called "Faces of Hope." On either side of her photo in that book were simple wishes for a child's life. "I hope you help those in need," read one. "I hope you know all of the words to the National Anthem and sing it with your hand over your heart. I hope you jump in rain puddles."

If there are rain puddles in heaven, Christina is jumping in them today. And here on Earth, we place our hands over our hearts, and commit ourselves as Americans to forging a country that is forever worthy of her gentle, happy spirit.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obama-speech-transcript-president-addresses-shooting-tragedy-tucson/story?id=12597444&page=4

How would a child like Christina Taylor Green imagine our democracy? What would her expectations be that we aspire to live up to?

[handmade34]

1. Gandhi

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.

[eomer]

2. Perhaps a child would imagine...

that our actions in another country will always be designed to foster democracy, freedom, and welfare of the people in that country and never to create or sustain a government that is authoritarian or even tyrannical, regardless of any advantage or beneficial treatment to powerful interests that government would be willing to deliver.

[patrice]

3. Perhaps she would think that people actually talk to one another about important stuff like Freedom.

All of us say we are or want to be free, but what does that mean?

[OneGrassRoot]

4. With a child's innocence. I envision a society which...

is truly color blind and devoid of the bigotry and racism so widespread in today's world.

A society which honors traits like compassion and empathy; they're seen as necessary, as strengths.

A society in which equality is the goal, though realizing it won't be achieved. Still, the journey should be about getting there, with a lot more cooperation, less competition.

A society in which everyone cares about the Earth and all living creatures, recognizing we're all connected.

A society in which people recognize they have choices, and take responsibility for them.

A society which chooses:

~ more “we,” less “me.”

~ hope and courage, not fear and apathy.

~ love and kindness, not hatred and anger.

~ genuine unity, not division.

A society in which people are willing to put themselves in the shoes of another, allowing hearts and minds to be opened.

A society which truly values every single human being as being intrinsic to the whole.

A society which recognizes the wisdom of this sentiment:

You have the capacity to change the world within a moment. All you must do is make a simple choice. Are you going to choose a world of love and gratitude, or a tortured world filled with discontent and impoverishment? The answer will depend upon your attitude at this very moment.”

~ Masaru Emoto


IT'S A START. :)



edited for typo

[eomer]

5. A child would imagine

that if the people of this democracy overwhelmingly favor increasing taxes on the wealthy and cutting the military and definitely not cutting social security in order to solve our budget problems, then their elected representatives would make sure that is done. In other words, that Rep. Giffords idea of "Congress on the corner" is a realistic representation of how our democracy works and what it means to say that our country is a democracy.

[eomer]

6. A child would imagine

that this democracy really is based on the rule of law.

That no one is above the law, with no "but..." that qualifies it.