Open Letter to Barack Obama

I have trusted you with my vote, but more importantly I have trusted you with my hope. You've inspired the citizens of this country, the world, and me. You've told us that this journey will be hard, and that it will require sacrifice and commitment. Even though it will be tough, together we can find solutions, new ways to grow our country and help the world.

Through our own careless actions, inattention, fear, and anger, we have left America in the hands of a conductor who did not know what he was doing. Now we are careening down a mountain, rightfully terrified that our train will jump the tracks. The world relies on the people and cargo in our train and a derailment will affect more than the passengers. We are looking to you, Barack Obama, to lead us down the mountain safely, so we can continue our journey.

Here I am, one passenger on the train you now conduct, holding my glass bell of hope. I had it packed in my luggage, stowed safely away to protect it from the ride. I took it out when I voted for you. I will ring it for as long as I can but it is only made of glass, fragile, transparent and brittle. My grip is strong but this has been an exhausting and frightening trip. If the train crashes, the path gets rough enough that I drop it, or have to use both hands to hold on, my bell will be broken, my hope shattered into dangerous shards, irreparably lost.

Let me know if you need to borrow my bell because yours is broken. Ask of me to lend my bell, stop ringing my bell, change my song or play louder. I beg of you, please have the decency to tell me if I should stow my bell away, if I will need both of my hands, if hope will be better used another day.

When movement is a sign of progress, we get to flat ground, safely traveling on track again; I will jump out at the next stop and trade my glass bell in for a steel one. Until then President Obama, my president, please don't break my bell.

Your Hopeful Citizen,

LaRae Meadows