But I’m going to talk about something that a lot of us don’t really like to think about, and I will start with this story. In the movie The Neverending Story, Atreyu had to go through a number of challenges before he was able to reach the Ivory Tower and stop the Nothing. I won’t go into too many details about the story (I would recommend you watch the movie if you haven’t seen it. It’s wonderful.) but one of the challenges was that Atreyu had to look into a special mirror to see who he really is.

It had been said that kind men found out that they were really cruel. Men that thought they were courageous found out they were cowards when they looked into the mirror. The mirror did not lie; it showed any viewer his true self - his true reflection. The reason this mirror was considered a challenge is that most people do not view themselves as they really are. To see ourselves as we really are can be terrifying.

So what I will tell you is that if George W. Bush were to look into that mirror, he would see you. He would see me. He would see all of us in this country. Are you surprised? Are you angry?

You see, we have spent a lot of time accusing Mr. Bush of being a war-monger. We have accused him of being greedy. We have accused him of favoring his friends over doing what is right. We have accused him of not getting along with a Congress that does not agree with him. And certainly these are valid accusations. I would never say that Mr. Bush is particularly benevolent in any of these areas. What I would like you to think about, however, is whether or not any of these attributes is rare in our society.

How many people do you know that aren’t greedy? We live in a country that supports the use of gasoline in gluttonous quantities. We prefer that over carpooling. Never mind that many people here drive cars that are not even fuel efficient. We eat too much. We sleep too much. We shop at stores that many widely accuse of supporting slave labor and exploitation of the poor in foreign countries. We get angry when we don’t get our way. We argue relentlessly when people accuse us of being wrong. Does that sound like anyone we know - like George W. Bush?

We go to work and engage in vicious gossip about our coworkers. We put our own egos ahead of the good of the company and its mission. We give special treatment to our friends while mistreating those who really need and deserve our help. Does that sound like anyone we know - like George W. Bush?

When our World Trade Center collapsed, we demanded revenge. We demanded war. We wanted the terrorists to come to justice. We were willing to sacrifice for our own safety - until we got tired of it. Then we criticized Mr. Bush for going to war. And what did he do - he insisted that he was right even when everyone else accused him of being wrong. Does that sound like anyone we know - like George W. Bush?

We must remember that no matter what argument we make, we elected our president - twice. Many people say Mr. Bush did not win the popular vote, but in this country popular vote is not how we elect presidents, and has never been, as far as I know (though I’d have to look that up). No matter what we say or who we accuse, we must take responsibility for our actions. We valued a president that would not have an affair or look at porn. And we got one. We can criticize him for everything else, but we got what we wanted - a good Christian man.

And we got ourselves. We elected a president that is just like all of us. He wants money and power. He will run over people to get it. He will make whatever illogical argument he can think of to get what he wants. That’s what we do too.

Look into that mirror. You will see that President Bush is in all of us. If we want to change this country and get a “better” president, we must first become better people. We must work on ourselves and be the change we want to see in the world, taking the words of Ghandi. Before the November 2008 election, let’s work on ourselves, and then, no matter who we vote for or who wins, we will see ourselves happier with our next president.