I began this two and a half years ago as I witnessed the waters of Tsunami take the lives of thousands–a force of nature that took control of humanity. I looked to the skies and asked why, but there was no answer. It’s then that I decided that we needed to look beyond ourselves and into the heavens.
With this disaster staring the world in the face, I had my own home to contend with and protect. My son was struggling to finish high school and a priority in my mind. When he finished school and went into the world with his own hopes and dreams, I began to coordinate an effort to gather the hopes of America. Our lives are presented with so much confusion. The war in Iraq being the main subject, but also the worry about nuclear war, terrorism, poverty, disease are some of the things that have created this. And there’s so much hatred being portrayed on our very own streets.
Since I began, our nation has had so many disasters to contend with. Katrina left so many without the necessary means to live their lives and continue to believe in a future for themselves and children. Followed by Rita that left so many with the question of what is happening?
More than 30 years ago, I bicycled from my Twin Cities to Memphis, TN in remembrance of a young cousin that died of leukemia. I rode not only to remember her, but to give other children a better chance of seeing life and living it to its fullest. A decade and more had passed when I met another young boy that was also facing death because of cancer. Michael was trying to get a letter to the President of the United States with questions.
As a proud and professional letter carriers for the USPS, I felt it was within my power to get his letter to the President. Because it took me two years to coordinate my second bicycle ride across the country, it wasn’t in time for Michael to see me as I left the State Capital headed for Washington D.C. with his letter. His was the first among thousands of letters that I had received and left responsible to deliver to the White House. His spirit was with me as I bicycled more than a thousand miles to deliver his letter to President Bush in 1989.
Throughout the past years I’ve witnessed the hope in the hearts of everyone I have met with my efforts to make a small difference in a world that keeps getting harder to understand. And I’ve come to realize that it’s the one thing that we all have in common. The Hope in our hearts for a better tomorrow for ourselves and our children.
This coming Memorial Day I’ll begin to gather the hopes of America as each and everyone that cares puts that hope on paper and relies on the United States Post Office to safeguard their “Letter of Hope”! I’ll begin my final bicycle ride from the Space Center in Seattle WA and spend the entire summer riding to Washington D.C., gathering the hopes of America. When I complete this cross country ride, all of the letters I collect will be scanned to disc and be taken into space by NASA where they will be left for discovery!
