This weekend President Obama inadvertently (or not) stirred the pot in the political landscape yet again. In the 5th Summit of the Americas he was recorded 'shaking the hand of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez' at two separate occasions. Crisis!
Speaking only from my personal perspective, I'm not quite as impacted as the media seems to be, nor seemingly a lot of politicians. I understand the implications of such a dastardly act, there's a lot of tension between the US and Venezuela and it is understandable. Chavez has certainly shot a few things past our bow, figuratively speaking. He has incited several adversaries and attempted to pull the rug out from under the US in petroleum exports. We've done our own share of insult, labeling him a threat to US interests and pairing him with the likes of Castro and others. So what makes a handshake so offensive?
As much as this blog post seems like a political rant, I want to make clear it's not my intention to position myself in the political arena. I'm a singular person who probably looks at the world through rose-colored glasses more than I should. I, in fact, truly dislike politics altogether but understand the importance. It is what keeps the world in balance....or out of balance is it may seem. So in that, I find trouble allowing a handshake to wreck our hope for a more amicable world. In fact, on the contrary, I see it as a person to person gesture. Maybe it's the first step towards acknowledging we all need each other in this world. Maybe it's saying, "hey, we put our pants on one leg at a time, just like next guy". Or, it was just a normal, almost voluntary reaction to a hand extended. Remember, both of these guys have spent their lives shaking hands in a gesture of greeting. I just hate for the media to control or influence opportunities for hope. Instead of wasting airtime on the, gasp, handshake seen 'round the world, let's use that for better use such as making aware the magnitude of malnutrition, environmental abuses, human rights, infant mortality and on and on.
So, before this gets misconstrued as anything endorsing an agenda or representing any organization or individual affiliated with Special Missions Foundation, this has entirely been the posit of myself as a human observer. But then again, maybe that simple act is...gasp...just as controversial.
My advice; let's keep everything in perspective.
Brian Crowe
Executive Director, Special Missions Foundation
(and human observer)
Speaking only from my personal perspective, I'm not quite as impacted as the media seems to be, nor seemingly a lot of politicians. I understand the implications of such a dastardly act, there's a lot of tension between the US and Venezuela and it is understandable. Chavez has certainly shot a few things past our bow, figuratively speaking. He has incited several adversaries and attempted to pull the rug out from under the US in petroleum exports. We've done our own share of insult, labeling him a threat to US interests and pairing him with the likes of Castro and others. So what makes a handshake so offensive?As much as this blog post seems like a political rant, I want to make clear it's not my intention to position myself in the political arena. I'm a singular person who probably looks at the world through rose-colored glasses more than I should. I, in fact, truly dislike politics altogether but understand the importance. It is what keeps the world in balance....or out of balance is it may seem. So in that, I find trouble allowing a handshake to wreck our hope for a more amicable world. In fact, on the contrary, I see it as a person to person gesture. Maybe it's the first step towards acknowledging we all need each other in this world. Maybe it's saying, "hey, we put our pants on one leg at a time, just like next guy". Or, it was just a normal, almost voluntary reaction to a hand extended. Remember, both of these guys have spent their lives shaking hands in a gesture of greeting. I just hate for the media to control or influence opportunities for hope. Instead of wasting airtime on the, gasp, handshake seen 'round the world, let's use that for better use such as making aware the magnitude of malnutrition, environmental abuses, human rights, infant mortality and on and on.
So, before this gets misconstrued as anything endorsing an agenda or representing any organization or individual affiliated with Special Missions Foundation, this has entirely been the posit of myself as a human observer. But then again, maybe that simple act is...gasp...just as controversial.
My advice; let's keep everything in perspective.
Brian Crowe
Executive Director, Special Missions Foundation
(and human observer)
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