His name is Lyle, and he's one of those hard-working geniuses that keeps me inspired all the time. Well, now it appears we have to add his kin to that list. 12 year-old Kaitlin is responsible for the following letter to the president. I think we all owe her a debt of thanks. I recommend people go to Lyle's blog, and find the entry (a couple posts back at this point). It's already gotten a lot of positive responses (and one resoundingly negative one), which are worth reading. Then, if you feel like it, add your own to the list. Thanks everyone.
Dear Mr. President Bush,
Hi, my name is Kaitlin Estill. I live in Ames Iowa and Moncure North Carolina. At my Dad/Mom's house. Both are small insignificant places compared to Washington D.C. I'm 12 years old. I have a stepmother and a father, a stepfather and a mother, so I am fortunate to have a large family. With that large family comes many political views and so forth about the economy, environment, the war in Iraq etc. So please do no think this letter is coming right out of my parents views I have formed my own opinions about things too.
First of all I'd like to say that no one is perfect and I can't blame one single person on this earth for all his or her mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes we wouldn't be human if we didn't, we also wouldn't learn. Second of all I want to say that I realize your job is probably one of the most stressful in America.
Still...I am literally embarrassed to be apart of this country right now. This is a feeling I have never felt before in my 12 almost 13 years of life. I almost thought about living in Canada, which has its issues too. I'm not trying to pretend that Canada is perfect but right now it seems a lot better than here. You may ask, "Why pick Canada?" well, actually there are two reasons. I have extended family in Canada that I would love to see more often. The seconded reason would have to be their superior candy selection to the United States.
My Favorite candy in the world, Aero bars, can only be found fresh and new in Canada. Although I could talk about candy all night and well into tomorrow there are more relevant issues at hand.
For instance, do you care about our planet? Our endangered species, some of which(most likely dolphins in this case) are probably smarter than you and if you actually gave it some thought smarter than all people. Taking in the fact that we only use a small percentage of our brains.
As I mentioned before I have lots of family so we go on many family vacations including Bahamas, Mexico, Key West, and numerous other places, so I have gotten to see some wonderful wildlife. As I have seen beautiful wild life my expectations have gotten higher and higher, so when I see some animals or plants I still accept their beauty but I want to see more than just that. I want to see more and learn more.
I am very lucky because I get more opportunities than some people do. I have seen a dolphin before-- actually about five or six but I haven't ever seen a sea turtle. I fear I may never get to. I know that one 12 year old's wishes are not going to make an impact on you, but pause for a moment and think about this: what about all the 12 year olds in the world not getting to see a sea turtle and many other animals on the endangered species list.
If you think about that then why not think about all the people in the world that are not getting to see and live and enjoy this exquisite planet. A single factory is giving off so much pollution, and you are giving permission for pollution. Forget about the money part and realize that stopping this kind of pollution isn't just for a few species it's for our entire planet!
I could say, "Heck why am I complaining? I could live a century from now and pollution and using all our natural recourses would leave me with not much and not getting to enjoy our wonderful planet half as much as I do now.
My Dad makes biodiesel, and runs his truck on straight vegetable oil. It is becoming more popular now and people are catching on to it. This is one of the few good things my Dad does for the environment. Please forgive me if those words aren't in your vocabulary.
Biodiesel is also a good way to make sure we are not using all our natural resources so in years to come will have conserved them. That sort of brings up the Iraq war issue.
Ok let's just say I quit the politeness for a second and act like a normal 12 year old: dude what's up with Operation Iraqi Freedom?
Did we find any weapons? I don't think so. Also some people could argue the case that since America has these weapons can we really trust someone who honestly should be in jail right now for numerous war crimes, is ruining our planet completely screwing education and healthcare and has such deadly weapons?
So basically at the end of the day we ask ourselves why are we still in Iraq? When it really comes down to it, we want the oil, which I think, is unnecessary and we should leave the poor people alone.
They hate us, we have to admit that were not helping them-- unless your definition of helping them is having tons of people killed every week is helping and if that is the case please let me know. Yes getting rid of Saddam Hussein was definitely a plus. I will give you credit for that.
So can we both admit that America's greed for oil is keeping us in Iraq? I think the first step is being truthful with yourself (This includes all issues in America) and then being with our country America.
Sincerely,
Kaitlin Estill
Concerned Citizen