Keep the Finger Down

Disaster raging from the earth. Deceit and obsession with wealth that lead to a downward, chaotic spiral in financial stability. Riots against fair votes. War that destroys the innocent with its strategic madness. And death to our values, our hopes, and all the dreams that made America great. Put them all together and it sounds like a pretty good description of the phrase George W. tossed about quite a bit - the Axis of Evil.

It now sounds like mocking cliche. But we fail to see the truth that lies within it.

Bush's presidency is over. As the "light-bringer" comes forth, the man who gave us his life to serve our country for eight years solemnly bows out. Few good words will come from a single mouth, little thanks to him for standing for us in the midst of storm. The most common reply to him leaving office seems to be "good riddance". People see all the destruction that is seeping into our reality as a result of picking a "bad" leader. However, it is not Bush's burden to bear the blame alone.

Bush may have not been the best man for president. Some of his choices led to serious consequences. By his choice, we are still facing war in Iraq. Was it prudent for us to go there? Perhaps not. Was cutting taxes to fluff citizen paychecks a good choice since it helped in widening the deficit? That's doubtful as well. Was the relief response to the victims of Hurricane Katrina adequate and timely? Not exactly. But they were still choices he made and either succeed or fail, he still deserves our respect.

President Bush made choices just the way any other human being would have. But we fail to remember that we are all just that. Human. Our choices reflect our own inner-thinking and sometimes advice from others is incorporated in our judgment as well. Our plans to execute some of our choices will always differ. What he chose, or advice he was given, was most likely what he truly felt was best. That's not to say there were never ulterior motives or questionable actions. But only God knows what was in his heart regarding his intentions. It is the lack of respect from our country that helps me truly point the finger away from Bush.

Do we always focus on what is wrong than what has been done right? He developed a global relief for AIDS, spending billions of dollars on aid in 100 countries. Even though controversial, Bush stood by his view that Intelligent Design should be taught in the classroom beside the evolution theory. It wasn't popular, many people despised it, but it shows one thing - integrity. He didn't say what the people wanted to hear, he said what he felt was right. And even though the war continues on in a world far away from the safety of our homes and every day lives, we have been kept safe from terrorists on our own soil since 9/11.

We wanted a leader, so we got a leader. For better or worse, he was who we asked to lead. But the finger shouldn't be pointed at him for our failures. If you take a good look around, very slowly, taking in all the life before you, you will see that we live among the "Axis of Evil". Respect for our fellow brothers and sisters has gone out the door. Not only do we bash our president, we also neglect each other and bicker over every little thing we don't agree on. We are constantly pointing the fingers to someone else, one who thinks differently than we do or takes stances on things we don't agree on. We refuse to look within ourselves at our own inability to stand up and lead. Clinging to material wealth, socials status, and worldly pleasures we block out the unity that should be forming on the inside of these American walls. The togetherness we should be sewing in order to make our country great once more and join together to keep our land safe yet we pull out our pitchforks and lanterns instead. And we sit behind these bars that we are welding together with hate and greed. Rattling the cage and howling at all those who make a mistake.

We want a leader, and when he fails we take every bit of his dignity and squeeze it in our claws before dropping him to the ground with sneers as was saunter on to the "next best thing". We want a leader. Yes, indeed. But until we can find harmony within ourselves and each other, those that come to lead will eventually be swallowed by the savage tribe that we truly are.