Obama and The Peace Prize

“This is not how I expected to wake up this morning,” said President Barack Obama at his Nobel Peace Prize news conference today. I can say the same for my day, so this will serve as my press conference. I awoke to my dog licking my fore and underarms to alarm me of her pressing bladder needs. She needed to make peace of her own, and so her ever loving dad took her out on her morning Constitution.
            My second alarm came not from my alarm clock, but from my dad (also ever loving) when he told me Obama accepted the award this morning. I was as surprised as an actual award winner. I think it’s wonderful that he won the award, and it’s obviously impressive (it’s the Nobel Peace Prize; it’s kind of a big thing). Our President was, as he always is, very humble this morning while accepting the award. To Obama, this is not “a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather of an affirmation of American leadership…I will accept this award as a call to action.”
            And while Obama joins the elite company of Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Jimmy Carter (the only one to receive the honor while not in office) as the only U.S. Presidents to win the award, I’m a bit alarmed by what this means for the rest of us. Since the voting was held back in February when Barack had been in office for two weeks, he now receives the annual award eight months in to his Presidential tenure. This is not to say he doesn’t deserve it or that he doesn’t embody exactly everything for which the Nobel Peace Prize stands, but rather that the rest of us need to scuttle on home from the morning dog walk and do something positive.
            Whether you’re like me and hold pride for our President or you propose it’s purely preposterous he pocketed the prestigious Peace Prize, you should put your feelings aside and do something about it.
            While impressed by the leadership and strength Obama possesses, I’m not encouraged by what this means for the rest of the competitors for the award. In a very short time, Barack Obama has become the face of World Peace. Congratulations to him, but shame on everyone else for falling asleep at the proverbial peace wheel. From Presidents on down to pedestrians, we can all do better at making peace in this world. It starts with laughing at your dog’s licking habits instead of becoming angry, and carries with you all day. Prove Obama wrong; go do something to show him that you deserved the Prize.