Got Hope?

So this post is not about Evan, just to give fair warning. No reporting on cute antics or whatnot, although I will try to post some more of those soon. No, this is a post that I am writing because it is something that I can't stop thinking about all day. And then I thought, "This is the sort of thing one would write in a blog!" So, here it is.
In my "Energy and Humanity" course, the Nobel Peace Prize was being discussed (since Gore and the IPCC won for climate change), and I had the students talk about this. Although I made it clear we were only discussing Gore's and the IPCC's award, of course some moron had to slide in a comment about this year's award, something to the effect of, "It's been made clear that they'll give the award to just about anyone," hahaha. Sigh.
So I kept mostly quiet about this when all the negative comments first circulated after the award, and of course I didn't say anything in class to the moron. But I think that one comment and the laughter afterward was the last straw, and I feel compelled to record my thoughts on this year's prize.
When I first saw the announcement, I was surprised - and very, very proud. It made perfect sense once I thought about it. Then the negative press started, and it just seemed to snowball. All along, I kept thinking that I just don't get what everyone is so confused about. Sure, it is very early in his term, and sure, he has not had a chance to do all the things he said he will try to do. But here is how I see it: Barrack Hussein Obama is a man who has, single-handedly, brought hope to hundreds of millions of people around the globe from many different nations and from many different cultures. He has made a significant fraction of the global population believe that a more peaceful world is a possibility. This is a feat that none of us could ever expect to come close to achieving in our own microcosms, nonetheless globally. It is a feat that is a critical step to achieving a world at Peace.
Hope.
I have a T-shirt from his campaign that says "Got Hope?" And Hope is what we got when we as a nation elected him. Hope is what the world got when us Americans decided to believe in this man. This is the campaign promise that was immediately fulfilled, and yet overlooked by so many nay-sayers after the announcement of this award. Since when did hope become something so invaluable? Especially for achieving a more peaceful world, it seems to me that hope is the most important thing to have.
So, I applaud the Nobel committee for recognizing the importance of the man who got so many people in the world to believe again in the possibility of creating a better world for our children.

I'm getting off my soapbox now. :)