Day Fifty-Two- 2/21/11 Write a President's Day Letter to the President

Day Fifty-Two: 2/21/11
New Thing: Write a President's Day Letter to the President       
Inspiration: President's Day, Barack Obama, The MDGs 
Cost: $0.44 (the cost of one stamp)   
Time: About 30 minutes   
Bottom Line: Hail to the Chief!

A photo of the President reading my letter.

 Reflection: In honor of President's Day, I wrote Barack Obama a letter. In it I thanked him for the hard work that he is doing, told him that I keep him in my prayers and asked him to support the UN Millennium Development Goals. All 192 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve these goals by the year 2015. These eight benchmarks include ending world poverty and hunger, achieving universal education, striving for gender equality, strengthening child & material health, combating AIDS/HIV, achieving environmental sustainability, and increasing global partnerships.  As a two time General Convention Deputy, I was pleased to have the opportunity to join with my Episcopalian sisters and brothers in voting to support this effort, and feet that writing this letter urging him to make these goals a priority is part of my commitment to this movement and part of my duty as a Christian and a citizen. I am so grateful that we live in a country that we are able to write directly to the president--even if he never actually reads it.  

I was curious about how likely it would be that Obama might see this letter and come across this nice little video about his philosophy on reading correspondence. Turns out he reads 10 a day and writes back to about 15 a week by hand. He feels that it helps to keep him connected, and I am very impressed by that.