Aaron’s Blog

As a soon-to-be first-time father, seeing the ultrasound pictures today was pretty cool.  We had decided before to wait on finding out the gender of our baby, but as today’s ultrasound appointment drew closer, it became a lot harder to wait.  Nevertheless, we managed to hold out and will find out this December.

Here are a few of the pics taken:

Fox News’ attempt to call Barack and Michelle Obama’s fist bump some kind of terrorist gesture was downright shameful and slanderous. Rather than get discouraged about what this says about the nature of our countries’ polarized political machine, perhaps a little humor is an appropriate anecdote.

I am currently undecided for the upcoming election, but wanted to take a few notes from McCain and Obama’s speeches this evening, now that Obama has wrapped up the Democratic nomination. Here is a basic pro / con list from my point of view. This is not meant to be a comprehensive list — rather it’s what came to mind while watching the speeches tonight.

McCain - Pros

• Proven record of working with candidates across the aisle — moderate history in Senate.
• Most likely to balance the budget or get closest to it and eliminate more pork barrel spending — if he can do in the White House what he has promoted in the Senate.
• Impressive resume.

McCain - Cons

• Appears very “pro war”. Although, one could say he maybe has a more cohesive strategy for dealing with the situation as it has been handed down.
• Doesn’t inspire.

Obama - Pros

• Only candidate to not pander in support of the economically foolish “gas tax holiday”.
• Definitely has the ability to inspire a change in direction and course.
• “Change is realizing that meeting today’s threats requires not just our firepower, but the power of our diplomacy…”
• Seems more in touch with struggles of middle-class America.
• “Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth.”

Obama - Cons

• Supports increasing protectionism, e.g. anti-free-trade.
• Hasn’t been to Iraq. Perhaps not a big deal in and of itself, but one could safely say he’s lacking in foreign policy experience.
• Still arguably ambiguous on the programs and the specifics of what kinds of change he wants to bring.
• Very short resume.

I have had the privilege of sponsoring a child through Compassion International for the last six years or so.  Periodically I receive letters from Nobert, the child I am sponsoring in Kenya.  When I first started sponsoring him, he was around 7 years old.  The letters I would receive early on often times included pictures that Nobert had drawn or colored and a short paragraph or two update.  Nobert recently turned 13.  He’s too old for coloring at this point, and the letters are getting longer.

Today’s letter was sobering to say the least.  While it started out with the usual tone, a few things set this letter apart from the rest.  Early on he said, “During the New Year we didn’t celebrate that day like Christmas because of the violence which was in the country.”  This was more or less mid-conversation, in between sentences about a wonderful Christmas celebration, and preparing for celebrating Easter.  But the real heart-wrenching part came at the end of the letter where he wrote, “Do you remember me telling you about the elections in the last letter last year?  After those elections is when violence started in our country.  There was no peace in our country.  For even one week leaders from other countries have come to speak to our leaders who say that the votes were stolen.  Me I do not know if it is the truth.  Many people have died.  Others lost their homes.  The only thing we trust on now is prayers.  I hope you will pray for my country to have peace.”

It’s really sad that Nobert’s had to mature so quickly, and is grappling with violence and the prospect of a stolen election.  I feel fortunate to live in a place where I rarely give a second thought to my own safety.  Beyond my own sadness for Nobert’s situation, I was a bit ashamed of how out of touch I am with world affairs.  While I vaguely remember hearing something in the news about violence in Kenya, I certainly didn’t dig deeper to find out more.

It serves as a good reminder to not take things for granted or otherwise become complacent.  Please take a moment to pray for peace in Africa — specifically in Kenya, and also to the north in the Darfur region of Sudan.  Also, if you’re not already sponsoring a child, please consider doing so through either Compassion International or World Vision.  I like them both because 84 to 87 cents out of every dollar goes directly to program expenses.  That’s significantly better than the average for most charities.