Cake Walk

When I was about six, I visited the local Lion's Club Variety Show (inside winter carnival) for the first time. I was in awe. The lights, the noise, the distractions. And I just knew good things would happen here before it was over. While I was glad to be there I wasn't quite yet clued in on what was going on.
I stepped into a large room with people lining the wall, when suddenly the man in the middle shouted, "That little girl there wins!"
"But she just walked in!" someone else said.
"Well, she's got a ticket!"
The next thing I know I was in the middle of the room picking out a huge chocolate cake. I'd just won a cake walk I didn't know I'd entered. Yes, I did have a ticket, but I hadn't yet figured out exactly what I was doing. Did I deserve to win when so many others were there first -- and knew what they were there for?
That's how I imagined Presiden Barak Obama felt yesterday on waking to hear he'd won the Nobel Prize for Peace. Yes he was in the room. Yes the presidency is his ticket. But did he feel it was quite fair to the others for him to win when he'd only just barely stepped in the room?
Maybe, maybe not. I expect, however, he will do what even a six year at a cake walk knew to do: Thank those who gave it. Be gracious to those who say you shouldn't have it and now go do something to deserve it.

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