I have always given the occupants at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue the benefit of the doubt (whether I voted for them or not) because I want to see our great nation stay great. That is why it was such a thrill to have worked and studied in Washington, D.C. during the 70s when there was so much change occurring in our nation (the ending of a war and the hope for peace in the middle east – we’re still waiting for the peace). Each President works to ensure that our nation is safe and that our citizens can look to the future with some hope. I’m hoping that the new year will see more job gains. Clean, high tech jobs are a great goal but jobs are jobs and we need more of them – now! I’d like to share a favorite prayer and a quote by two past Presidents and give thanks for the many blessings in our lives, especially during this holiday season.
My favorite prayer, the White House Prayer etched into the mantle over the fireplace in the White House State Dining room, was written by John Adams, the first President to live in the White House, “I pray Heaven to Bestow the Best of Blessings on THIS HOUSE and on All that shall hereafter Inhabit it. May none but honest and Wise Men ever rule under this roof.”
This quote, by Theodore Roosevelt, sums up my philosophy of living:
“In the battle of life, it is not the critic who counts; nor the one who points out how the strong person stumbled, or where the doer of a deed could have done better.
The credit belongs to the person who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who does actually strive to do deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotion, spends oneself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at worst, if he or she fails, at least fails while daring greatly. Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those timid spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”
Other Presidential prayers are at this link: http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Faith-Tools/Meditation/2005/01/Prayers-Of-The-Presidents.aspx
Happy New Year to you all!
