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Edited on Wed Oct-08-08 07:07 PM by Empowerer
that: pronoun DEF. the one farther away or less immediately under observation or discussion . . . referring to the one more remote in place, time, or thought; opposed to this
this: pronoun DEF. the person, thing, or idea that is present or near in place, time, or thought or that has just been mentioned . . . the one nearer or more immediately under observation or discussion
Last night you had the temerity and breathtaking lack of grace to refer to Sen. Barack Obama, your colleague, the presidential nominee of a major political party, as "that one."
You probably meant this as some kind of slap against or diminishment of Sen. Obama. But you probably have no idea how much it revealed about you.
Because, whether you know it or not, Sen. Obama is not "that one." He is "this one."
"That" implies that the subject of the comment is different and apart from the rest of us. But Sen. Obama is not different and apart from the rest of us. He is one of us. We appreciate him. We take pride in him. We embrace him.
He is many things to us, but he is not "that" anything.
He is this husband.
He is this father.
He is this son.
He is this Senator.
He is this presidential nominee.
He is this patriot.
He is this example of what we can be if we dream hard enough and work hard enough and stay true to who we are.
He is this remarkable, proud, beautiful, strong and decent man, the patriarch of a beautiful family, and possibly the next president of this nation that continues to strive to be what its founders promised us it should and could be.
He is this man. This man. He is this man because he is here with us, in time, place and thought. he is not remote, he is not farther away.
Your insistence on calling THIS man, not by his name, not by his title, not one of "your friends," but "that man," reveals just how out of touch you are. Because if THIS man is, to you, "that" man it means that YOU are remote, farther away in time, place and thought from the rest of us. Because the rest of us are here, right here, with this man.
THIS one.
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