by Asher on Wed Oct 28, 2009 6:50 am
It is with strong disappointment that I must comment on President Barak Obama's acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples". Efforts and action are two different things. Israel is still being attacked by Hamas, Iran still wants to wipe Israel of the map. Amadinijad is still pursuing nuclear weapons. So who is cooperating?
As the 44th president of the United States of America he should have had the common sense to decline the nomination instead of allowing his ego to accept. We live in an era of action not effort. If we plan on keeping G-d's word and T'kun Olam, repair the world we must first make an effort to do so, but until we make action that does so, we have done nothing meaningful. This has happened one other time in history, approximately 2010 years ago when this young Jewish fellow claimed to be the long awaited Messiah but did not produce even an ounce of evidence to justify the claim to the thrown, and although he had many followers after hundreds of years of coercion and story telling, his followers created a religion based on blind faith and not on Truth, laws, and study.
We have become a society of braggarts. Claiming roles we have not earned nor actions we do not merit. Non-Jewish religions have staked this idea from the inception of their spiritual beliefs, claiming prophecies that never happened, miracles that have long since been disproven, and electing a human being to be god like. Two thousand years later, we're doing it again. This type of thinking is what made Rome fall, and will eventually be the down fall of democracy in the United States.
It is imperative we take a step back and only reward people for their actions and not for the content of their speech. When studying the man, Alfred Nobel his website read:
"Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has been honoring men and women from all corners of the globe for outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and for work in peace."
So let's honor someone who has an outstanding achievement, not someone who talks about one. President Obama should have the obligation to either perform these great acts that he has be rewarded for, or should return the award.
Shalom,
Asher