Skip to content

US – Features

Dear mr president

  • by

Mr. Barack Obama

President of the United States of America
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

By Mirza Yawar Baig

I am sure you know more about the situation with Israel’s attack on the Freedom Flotilla than I do. The question that I and the rest of the world is asking is, ‘What are you going to do?’

We are told that in  1997, a man used to stand outside the White House, your home today,  holding a lighted candle in his hand, a silent protestor against the US sanctions against Iraq. He would turn up there every evening and would stand there for a few hours well into the night. One evening, it was wet, windy and very cold. As usual the man came, wearing a coat with the collar turned up against the bitter cold, and an umbrella to shelter the tiny flame of his candle from the blustery wind.  As he stood there, the guard at the gate, who used to see him every day and occasionally waved to him in friendly camaraderie, came out to him and said, "Man! I know you are committed to this cause. But look at this night! It is so cold and horrible; you are one man, standing here alone, do you think you will change them?"

 The man looked at the guard and smiled. "I don’t do this to change them," he said, "I do this so that they will not change me."

Read More »Dear mr president