President Elect-Obama, How Can I Help?

I didn't live during WWII, so I don't have any first hand knowledge of the sacrifices Americans made during the war. But my father was a proud military man who served stateside (much to his chagrin; he wanted to go into battle with his three brothers, but couldn't because he had a glass eye), and my mom worked for Ford Motor Company, doing something with airplanes. They were both patriotic and it was their excitement for a young JFK that introduced me to my first election. I was 8 years old at the time. My best friend and I thought he was so dreamy, we kissed the TV screen whenever his image appeared.

But enough about me.

Those of us old enough still remember Kennedy's inauguration speech and his "Ask not...." line. Those too young have heard it many times. Even though I was a few months shy of 9 years old, that inspired me. As years passed, my younger sister and I dreamed of joining the Peace Corps. But a dislike for bugs and snakes and unfamiliar food caused me to change course. It's a bit of sad irony that I was in gym class when Kennedy was shot, because that's were we did the sit-ups and push-ups that were part of the Presidential Council on Physical Fitness. My husband told me that he and a buddy walked 50 miles for the President's fitness program.

But enough about me.

I was in high school when Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King were killed, and in college during the height of Viet Nam. I thought I wanted to do something to save the world, so I studied sociology. Instead of the Peace Corps, I was going to work in poor communities in the US. Then I listened to some bad advice..."You'll never make money doing that. You need to major in business". Math being my weakest subject, I quit college and went to work for a bank. In hindsight, that was a good decision, because it led me on the path to meeting my husband.

But enough about me.

In 2000 and 2001, before I came to the conclusion that George W Bush didn't care about helping Americans, I thought he should do something like Kennedy did, and encourage fitness. Americans were getting fatter and lazier. Kids weren't getting enough exercise. Schools were cutting PE classes. And here we had a President who was the epitome of fitness. He exercised, appeared to eat well, and didn't smoke or drink. I kept waiting for him to get us all pumped up about health and physical fitness. I kept waiting for him to introduce a Presidential Physical Fitness Program. I think I even wrote him a letter. In my mind, anyway. I do that alot.

But enough about me.

When I woke up on November 5th, I felt full of energy. I wanted to do something for America and mankind in general. Barack Obama told me he won because of me, and I wanted to give back. He even wrote me an email that ended this way:

"We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I'll be in touch soon about what comes next. But I want to be very clear about one thing... All of this happened because of you. Thank you, Barack"

President-Elect Obama, I am excited about doing something to help get this country back on track. Give me something to do. I don't mean just by being a good American, voting and expressing my opinion. I want to do something tangible. Tell me how I can help.

You see, it's not really about me.