The Past is Over

Helena Keeffe presented an interesting challenge with $50 prize money for the winner:

Can you imagine a speech given by president Bush that would convince you that he has had a change of heart and could actually be the president of your dreams? It is all too easy to criticize our president and his administration. Life changing events (often of the extremely painful variety) force us to reevaluate our values and actions. What if something like this happened to our president. What if he were humbled in some way which caused a profound change in his outlook on life and his role as the leader of our country - turning the aggressive posturing of an all-attack-all-the-time leader into a gentler, wiser soul determined to demonstrate the power of honesty and vulnerability.

Five kids, ages 7 to 10, took up the challenge and wrote speeches of a President Bush who has accepted his mistakes. A change of heart, indeed. Helena had a Bush impersonator read the speeches, and the wonderful MP3s of the students’ texts are up on her site.