Acting White: Peace Man

By now much has been said about the Norwegians awarding the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama. He is the first to say that he has not earned the award, and I would agree. So what were those crazy Norwegians thinking? Succinctly, they were saying to the US citizenry that their Norwegian fears matter. And not just Norway, but the rest of the world too.

The people way up north, where it is dark half the time, have not forgotten the fear forced upon them in eight years of free world with George Bush, and “Dr. Evil” Dick Cheney, at the helm. We forget in America, with the promise of each new vote, how helpless the rest of the world must feel with no lever in front of them, but only a video monitor with a volume adjustment.

Perhaps the Nobel Committee is saying, whether we care to hear or not, that before we ever get to a new destination, we must turn the ship. This course change is what the world is desperate for right now. We need to talk to the Muslims, badly wanting peace, and ready to fight at the same time. We must disarm our weapons to a level that matches our ability to control them. We must care about polluting humanity into extinction. And this is just for starters.

I frankly don’t know how much of what the world cares about will get accomplished under Obama. He puts on his pants one leg at a time, and mistakes are inevitable. But we should consider that the Norwegians did not get to vote for change last November, even though they, and much of world, were just as desperate for it as Americans. And while they have made his job a bit more difficult in their premature recognition, it is unfair to deny them, with yesterday’s fears in hand, their right to be heard, today. Tomorrow is promised to no one.

James C. Collier

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