Keepin' the Peace

It's always made someone sound like a demi-god - "Nobel Peace Prize Winner... ". To rank up there with Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Ghandi, you must have done something pretty extraordinary, must have made a huge impact on the world.

Suddenly, it's a bit less impressive.

Personally, it would not surprise me to see Barack Obama with a Nobel Peace Prize... someday. Someday, after he's executed the many promises, hopes, and goals he's told the American people about. He has great plans, and their success could lead to great things, and he'd be worthy of a Prize.

For the first time (at least, that I'm aware), we see this Prize as less of an award and more of a, well, guilt trip. It seems Obama was given this Prize not in honor of what he's done, but in hopes that he will do something worthy to deserve it. This puts quite a bit of pressure on our President to act as peacefully as possible, when the most peaceful choices might not always be the most beneficial to our nation's security.

So if I were to talk to Obama I'd tell him congratulations, sure that while he's flattered and honored, he's probably also a little uneasy about this burden.