A Word for Gandhi

By freak coincidence, I began this week to watch for the second time Richard Attenborough's 1982 classic Gandhi. The coincidence is that I ended up actually watching it on the 61st anniversary of the Mahatma's death.

January 30, 1948... another day to be remembered with December 7, 1941, and September 11, 2001. The day the world lost one of probably the three greatest human beings ever to walk the earth.

Oo, big surprise! The liberal pacifist agrees with Gandhi!

Here was a man who asked no material rewards-- all he wanted to do was free his country. Which he succeeded in doing, but not without great cost. Despite his continuous message of nonviolent resistance, by the end of his life, he had witnessed such atrocities as the massacre of Amritsar and nonstop months of rioting between Muslims and Hindus.

It's important to remember January 30th every year. In my opinion, it's more important than Martin Luther King Day, and before you crucify me for saying that, let me explain what I mean.

Gandhi was an example to Dr. King, but no other man in history has been able to cause such a tremendous stir over a pinch of salt.

Real heroes, like Gandhi and King, are people who do things for others while taking nothing for themselves. They don't ask to light up the pages of history, but their actions necessitate it. And there are people in the world who don't even know a single thing about Mohandas Gandhi! As the tagline for the 1982 movie says, "His triumph changed the world forever." His messages will never die. And when everyone in the world follows his example, we will finally live in the world in which we were intended to live.

How to Leave Children Behind: The Christine Gregoire Story

I'd enjoy taking a moment to reflect on the very bizarre year American education has been experiencing.

All around the country, education funding is being cut, which is inexcusable. Let me explain the state of Washington's current situation in that department. Our governor, Christine Gregoire, who once had my support, just lost it. On the bright side, she acknowledged that our state is going through a tough economic time, which was fantastic! How did she respond? Massive, painful budget cuts. Well, that works. Wait a minute-- what did she cut?

Ah, now we get to it!

A few items on her ax list: drug/alcohol rehabilitation facilities (Goody! Problem drinkers with no place to go for help!), homeless shelters (Yahoo, yippety! Thousands more people to leave out in the cold, our worst weather in quite some time!), and... education!

The changes won't really be evident this year, but tomorrow's students and teachers are facing some pretty bleak issues on the horizon. When the cuts are finally felt, one of the first institutions to go will probably be the arts. Athletics would seem a likely candidate, until you realize that it is too readily associated with the American dream to ever be in any real danger. Fine arts, on the other hand? Gracie is in her nightgown ready to say good night.

But what is even more baffling is the amount of praise Gregoire has received for her "smart," "gutsy," "chutzpah-heavy" financial plan. Did any of these alleged critics really understand what was going on? Or were they bought off by invitations, perhaps, to the governor's overly elaborate inaugural ball?

During the election, Gregoire was the lesser of two evils. Her first four years proved her ability to be both an excellent and appallingly bad governor. But now, even Sarah Palin is more gubernatorially qualified.

As for Gregoire, she's proven herself a true goober... but gubernatorial? That is, at this time, anyone's bet.

Too bad the future leaders of America will be too uneducated and uncultured to fix her mistakes.

It's Finally Happened, and We Know It's Happened

2008's list of overused words included "maverick," "change," and (though it's more than one word) "Joe Six Pack." Already, I can tell which terms have been beaten to death in 2009.

"Once in a lifetime." "Historic." "Momentous." "Hope." Et cetera, et cetera... you know where I'm going with this one, don't you? As an Obama supporter throughout much if not all of the campaign, I was delighted, thrilled, and floored to say the least when I watched the inauguration on Tuesday. Barack Obama: America's first black president! Oops... there's another overused phrase.

However, just because I'm pleased and in awe of this historic moment, that doesn't mean nothing else is happening in the world. There are still people in this country who keep talking about, "Oh, can you believe Obama made it?" instead of, "Oh, I wonder what he's going to do?"

President Obama has already made some tremendous decisions... and people are still talking about the hat under which Aretha Franklin belted out a patriotic tune this January 20th. Still tying it in with the fact that it was a day after MLK day. Who is focusing on what needs to be done right now?

Plenty of people will deny it, but Bush left a disastrous legacy, from which you could almost hear sinister laughter as his helicopter made a dramatic escape to his ancestral home, Texas. The "war" (read: ongoing lethal blunder) in the Middle East looks destined to become even more unpopular than the Vietnam War unless handled with delicate precision and expert statecraft. Our economy is... well, every adjective to describe that dead cow has received a worse beating than Apollo Creed did in Rocky IV. Which reminds me-- Russia seems to be reverting to their Cold War-era opinion of us, if they ever "verted" in the first place. All around the country, lines of division are being drawn between the political right and left. Enough already!

And how does America respond to this growing list of drastic crises?

By writing 5 million identical editorials congratulating Mr. Obama for the historic oath he took.

Yes, history in the making must be acknowledged and gawked at while it is passing. However, in this case, history has already passed us. In the history textbooks of the future, otherwise, the days after January 20th, 2009, will read as follows: "Nothing interesting really happened because people couldn't learn to look into the future."

Focus, America. Focus.