The Power Of Hope 

            The cover of this week’s New Yorker, the first after last Tuesday’s historic presidential election, says volumes: the Lincoln Memorial and reflecting pool bathed in the glow of the illuminated “O” of the title.  The cover was created by Chatham artist and Chronicle cartoonist Bob Staake.  Its basic theme is reflection, and it contains a number of symbols, from the obscure — the pattern in the water suggesting the bars of slavery — to the obvious — Lincoln’s place in American history and the “O” for Obama, our first African-American president.  It’s a lot for a single image, says Staake, and it’s meant to be interpreted broadly and personally.  “If your experience and response to the image is slightly different than your neighbor’s, then the cover succeeds in its goal of making the iconic image work on a democratic and inclusionary basis,” he says.

            Also bound up in that cover image is the hope that Obama inspired in a majority of voters, even in conservative and usually very Republican-leaning Chatham.  Lincoln, too, inspired hope during a dark time in our nation’s history, and his legacy was the foundation upon which was built level after level until the right place was reached for the right person to make history.

            Like Lincoln, President-elect Barack Obama faces challenges, perhaps more than almost any other incoming chief executive in recent memory.  There seem to be crises everywhere you turn: the financial sector, employment, manufacturing, the war.  It will take time to pull the nation out of the miasma the current administration has sunk it into.  In his first press conference last week, Obama vowed to address the financial crisis, at least, swiftly but — and he stressed this — deliberately.  He will listen to input and advice from the best minds he can find and actually think about how to act. As Nicholas D. Kristof noted in an op-ed column in Sunday’s New York Times, Obama is a “practicing intellectual” who considers ideas and doesn’t eschew complexity.  How refreshing.

            The power of hope, the power of ideas, the power of belief in this country’s ability to transcend today’s difficulties, these are the traits Obama shares with the president whose memorial Bob Staake chose to portray in his New Yorker cover.  It’s ironic, though somehow fitting, that it took the election of an African-American to the nation’s highest office to restore those ideals. 

Charity Begins At Home 

            With the economic news becoming more dire as the days go by, everyone is bracing for hard times.  While most of us will get through by cutting expenses and doing without some luxuries for a while, there are others who are not as fortunate, who walk a razor-thin line between having a roof over their head and being on the street even in the best of times.  For those people, the safety net provided by local nonprofits is indispensable.

            Yet like most of us, those agencies are girding themselves for the dearth of donations that often comes with the shock of an economic downturn.  Many are developing new strategies to fulfill their mission; the best see these times as an opportunity to retool and come out stronger than ever and better able to accomplish their mission.

            Beginning on page 61 if this week’s issue, we explore how some of those agencies are dealing with current conditions. We’ve also chosen a handful of local nonprofit agencies to profile.  These range from the very focused — such as Pals For Life, which helps those in the hospitality industry who are in need — to those whose mission is to serve a broad swath of the population, like the Outer Cape Health Services.  These are but a tiny representation of the many nonprofits in the Lower Cape area that do good work, often unheralded, whether it is helping the less fortunate or providing supplemental funding for the arts in our schools.  They all deserve our admiration and support.

            As we head into the holiday season, many of these nonprofits will see demand for their services increase.  The Family Pantry in Harwich is one of those agencies.  For the past several years, The Chronicle has sponsored the Helping Neighbors Campaign to draw attention to the pantry and help it raise the money it needs to get through the difficult winter months, which promise to be even more difficult this year.  A portion of the ad revenue from this week’s special section will go toward launching this year’s Helping Neighbors Campaign, which begins right after Thanksgiving.  We urge those who can to give, and those who cannot to find some way to help support your local nonprofit.

11/13/08 

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