Thursday, January 13, 2011

“We have to figure out how we all can be better people”
-Carol Frillman, January 12, 2011

Friends

Last weekend, we all witnessed a act of unspeakable violence, directed against Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, and many others, in Tucson, Az.

In that moment, we also saw the best that is America; acts of bravery and compassion as bystanders jumped in without regard for themselves, as they rushed to aid victims or subdue the shooter. That is the America that we live in, and that we love; where neighbor helps neighbor, where neighbor helps folks unknown to them, at a moment’s notice. This is hope, alive, crossing all boundaries.

Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States. He is also a husband, a son, a friend, a father, and a grandson. Last night, we heard from all of him.

President Obama spoke last night and said, in part,

“The loss of these wonderful people should make every one of us strive to be better in our private lives – to be better friends and neighbors, co-workers and parents. And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their deaths help usher in more civility in our public discourse, let's remember that it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy, but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation, in a way that would make them proud…………….

I believe we can be better. Those who died here, those who saved lives here – they help me believe. We may not be able to stop all evil in the world, but I know that how we treat one another is entirely up to us. I believe that for all our imperfections, we are full of decency and goodness, and that the forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us………

But what we can't do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on one another. As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility. Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together. “

We believe the best and only thing we can do today, is to offer prayers for the victims, and the deranged. For the families whose lives have been indelibly changed. While we may not know these people, we can wrap them all in our thoughts, and let them know that in this family, the American family, we stand United with them in their grief.

At the beginning of this journey we have all made together, people wondered why we all were involved and what was driving us. Together, we stood for our children and grandchildren, and for those who could not stand for themselves.

We know now , that we are also standing for Gabby Giffords. For Judge Roll, for Phyllis, and for Gabe, George, Dot, and Dorwan. And most especially, for 9 year old Christina Taylor Green.

“The loss of these wonderful people should make every one of us strive to be better in our private lives – to be better friends and neighbors, co-workers and parents. And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their deaths help usher in more civility in our public discourse, let's remember that it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy, but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation, in a way that would make them proud”-

-President Barack Obama, Tucson, Az., 1-12-11

With Respect, and in Unity,
We Stand, With You, For Hope and Change


Lou & Carol Frillman

Monday, January 3, 2011

Remembering 1-03-08 Iowa

Supporters and Friends

Happy New Year.

Three years ago tonight, on January 3, 2008, we were in our Field Of Dreams, in Des Moines, Iowa, watching over 200,000 fellow citizens leave their homes on a very cold night to do the hard work of democracy and vote their conscience. The result of that caucus across frigid plains now is before us;

• Pulling the economy from the brink of disaster
• Thirty Million Americans who can now obtain basic health insurance.
• Two Supreme Court Justices who share our values
• Active withdrawal from Iraq
• Financial Reform and Consumer Protection
• Tax Reform for the middle class
• Equality for our brothers and sisters in the LGBT community in military service
• And so much more…………………..

As we now face a new Congress with Republican leadership, we remind you that we have faced incredible odds before; after all, a unified media was convinced in December of 2007 that Barack Obama was wasting his time. We ask you to think back today and remember that on January 4, 2008, what many had thought was a dream had become real. If President Obama was with us today, he would remind us that the victory was not his, it belonged to the American People.

This is what he said that night in Des Moines;

“Hope is what I saw in the eyes of the young woman in Cedar Rapids who works the night shift after a full day of college and still can't afford health care for a sister who's ill; a young woman who still believes that this country will give her the chance to live out her dreams.

Hope is what I heard in the voice of the New Hampshire woman who told me that she hasn't been able to breathe since her nephew left for Iraq; who still goes to bed each night praying for his safe return.

Hope is what led a band of colonists to rise up against an empire; what led the greatest of generations to free a continent and heal a nation; what led young women and young men to sit at lunch counters and brave fire hoses and march through Selma and Montgomery for freedom's cause.

Hope-hope-is what led me here today - with a father from Kenya; a mother from Kansas; and a story that could only happen in the United States of America. Hope is the bedrock of this nation; the belief that our destiny will not be written for us, but by us; by all those men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is; who have the courage to remake the world as it should be.

That is what we started here in Iowa, and that is the message we can now carry to New Hampshire and beyond; the same message we had when we were up and when we were down; the one that can change this country brick by brick, block by block, calloused hand by calloused hand - that together, ordinary people can do extraordinary things; because we are not a collection of Red States and Blue States, we are the United States of America; and at this moment, in this election, we are ready to believe again. Thank you, Iowa.”

As we approach the work of the New Year of 2011, we ask one thing; Remember where this journey began. And how far we still have to go, with your help.


We Stand, With You, For Hope and Change

Lou & Carol Frillman