I Pledge . . . er . . . Maybe Not

I am quite a fan of our new president. I am inspired by his message as well as the public response to his message, the upsurge of hope and energy for our country, the idea again that we are the country, and the profound statement to our nation and the world that our country elected a black man (though he was a black man who didn't run on race). I am inspired by the call to serve and the avenues and expectations that we can do so in a wide variety of ways. I am curious at the strong anti-response that some have to Obama, having heard people call him Satan reincarnated and others say that this country should have an IQ test before we are given voting privileges because so many people were pro-Obama (which hit me as funny because I thought the same back in 2004).

A co-worker forwarded to me a link from the Oprah show showing the "I Pledge" video put together by Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher. It's a great idea, pledging a way to serve, but, watching it, it's also kind of creepy because the actors chant about serving "our president." Just a reality check here, shouldn't we be serving our country? I don't want to serve the president, he's a human being after all prone to make mistakes and, God forbid, get on a power trip (oh, wait, that was the last president). I will, however, answer a call to service for our country. I belive that our country has to be more than our president, has to be all of us working together.

Check out the last scene of the video with all the little squares of people chanting, "I Pledge." It wasn't so much inspiring for me at the end as totally creepy, a la Third Reich at the extreme of my response.