Other than the Berlin Wall coming down, I can scarcely remember a spontaneous populist celebration to match the outpouring of joy at the recent election.  But on his face, and on the face of John McCain too, I saw a seriousness that reflected the extreme challenges that President Obama will face in office.

People--the plain truth is, he can't do it alone.  Any president faces the "wait and see" attitude of those who doubt his abilities.  But consider the intense storm that he is walking into: war, worldwide financial instability, and a totally new set of political players.

I want to urge everyone--no matter what your individual political preferences may have been--to look deeply inside, and to think about what we all have gained from living in this country.  Please consider what it means to be an American.  And please, think about what each of us can do to change the situation to one of betterment for everyone.

People keep invoking the spectre of the Great Depression.  But I think we need to affirm that we, as a people, can overcome anything.  We need to put our hearts and our work and our brainpower together, and work for each other's benefit.

There are a million ways we can help turn the country--and the world--around.  One of the best ways is to refuse to allow our value to be equated with money.  Was the United States of America founded to be a rich country?  Or a free country?  Were we blessed because we were selfish, Godless, heartless and grasping?  Or because we tried to live as "one nation under God?"

Our soil is producing fruits, our land is flowing with good water, we are blessed with a large population and large land, and we have two oceans and many natural resources.  The original settlers saw half their population starve to death the first year--yet found a way to give thanks to God for his protections and gifts at the end of that year.

Wall Street is not Main Street.  We are not the mere pawns of financial chess players.  We are a strong people, a multi-faced people, a people with an infinite number of talents and gifts able to be utilized to create greater abundance. 

My recipe for the country's recovery:

1) Contact your family and loved ones every day

2) Volunteer--share the talents and gifts you have with others without pay, as often as possible

3) Pray for those in leadership, for wisdom, for protection, for health and energy

4) Work hard.  Hard work doesn't kill you--but a sedentary life does.

5) Consciously choose positive thoughts and weed out negative ones.

6) When in doubt, be kind.

We teach our children mostly by how we live our life, not by what books we use in our studies.  Let's live in such a way that our kids say "This is how my parents did it, and it worked.  I want a family like the one I grew up in." 

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