Our great white hope

I had the strangest dream last night. I vividly dreamt that I had the opportunity to visit with President Barack Obama. He was handsome and friendly and well-groomed in a dark navy suit. We ate cupcakes together and he cut my hair. Weird, I know. In my dream, every American citizen was allowed one hour to spend with the President. I accidentally overstayed my allotted time limit, but Obama assuaged my worry with a smile and invited me and my parents to the next event on his agenda, a picnic on the White House lawn.

I even had the opportunity to tell the President about a dear friend who (in real life) was terminated from her job yesterday. A government job, which I have always associated with stability, but no more. She was incredibly dedicated and genuinely concerned about the children her department worked for. The department had been cycling through terminations for weeks prior. She was fired for no reason other than her number had come up. I am sure the bureaucrat in charge of the debacle thought he was doing good by trimming budgets (and, therefore, employees). In reality, he is ruining lives and risking America's very future, the educational well-being of the children for whom my friend worked.

In my dream, when I told Obama about my friend losing her job, he was saddened and empathetic. In the dream and in reality, the weight of our country's future rests on his shoulders. It has been about a month since he became the President, but I think American citizens still view him as our great white hope (no irony intended; don't even get me started). Obama is the Harvey Dent to our Gotham. I just hope Obama doesn't follow suit and lose half his face and most of his sanity.

I think even my subconscious has this mindset. Each day brings new stories about people losing their jobs, their homes, their lives. It may not be a Great depression, but it's the worst our generation has experienced. I think my dream signified the idea that we all hope he will take care of us, feeding us cupcakes and cutting our hair.

In reality, we can rely on no one but ourselves. I pray for the future of this country and for the future of my friend. She is talented, intelligent, and ambitious. I know she will emerge from this situation stronger than before. We all need to demonstrate the resiliency of the United States of America and make the changes that will fix the problems that put us into this mess in the first place, inadvertently or not. Work hard, save your earnings, love your friends and family. I still believe in the sturdiness of these values that have always been important to this country, values that we all just lost sight of. We need to be our own great white hope.