The President's Medals of Freedom ...

I am looking at the list of this year's recipients of the "Medal Of Freedom", given by President Barack Obama: I have met some of them, and it brings back some emotional or funny moments with them ...

The "Medal of Freedom" is the highest award bestowed by the US. It was established by John F. Kennedy in 1963.


Glancing over the list, one may become sarcastic, pointing at Obama's urgent needs, in order to get re-elected. Targeting the Jewish community is an urgent need for him. Although many American Jews have traditionally supported the Democratic party candidates, they have issues with Obama and his commitment to the state of Israel. What a better way to correct it then awarding Israeli President Shimon Peres with one? Add to that (Jewish) musician Bob Dylan (Robert Allen Zimmerman)? A  Polish man, Karski, who was among the first to document the Nazi genocide against the Jews in Europe (and sadly died a decade before being awarded ...) And even former Secretary Of State Madeline Allbright  - the woman who discovered her Jewish routes, in the latter part of her life??

The Spanish community is crucial as well during such tight elections.  There comes Dolores Huerta. She is not only Latino and ex partner of Cesar Chaves: She is a woman.  Cynics would say: Target two (communities) by giving one award ...

                                                                              ***

Making a point on the cynics, does not take away any of the achievements by these recipients.
Not at all!!


Here are personal moments with some of them.

Dolores Huerta:

She looks tiny, even fragile. But this woman co-founded the National; Farmworkers Association, with civil rights leader Cesar Chavez. Although she is 82 years old, her energy may challenge each one of us. She wanted to meet up with me. Okay, I was willing to visit her in Bakers Field, where she lives. In the next couple of days - Dolores came up with other options. She was in a meeting in one location, taking part of a conference in another one, lobbying in a third one ...I got tired only to listen to her travelling agenda. Then - she told me, she was travelling everywhere by a bus or a train.  A little woman, with a big mission.

At the end - we met up at my hotel in Beverly Hills. The hard working woman enjoyed good wine, many laughs, snapping fun photos ...She told me about her goals, needed to be achieved for Latino women. When we hugged late at night, I wanted to give her a limo, to take her back to Baker's Field. No, she insisted, she had a ride back.

Only the next morning, I learnt, that, "the ride" was a couple of hours of bus ride. 

Shimon Peres: 

I have known him since I was a little girl. His son and my brother went to the same boarding school. The politician who had to fight so hard to become popular during his long career, is the most popular Israeli President ever. His latest visit in Hollywood got everyone from Barbara Streisand to the owners of Google, Dreamwork and Facebook behaving like groupies next to him. He has already won the Nobel Peace Prize. Another prestigious award is anything a man can ask for. But ...

"Are you lonely at the top?" I asked him at the President's place. Peres took a moment to think, before answering slowly:  "Every man feels lonely sometimes ...Yes, I am ..." 

Bob Dylan:

I don't know how many of you watched a concert of the one and only Dylan ...I went to the one in Paris, where then President Nicolas Sarkozi and wife Carla Bruni attended. Dylan is a genius, no doubt. He just stood at the same spot during the whole show, singing his tunes. When the audience asked for an encore, after he finished, the stage was left empty. We thought, he would come back ...After five minutes, we got it: he wasn't.

But the funniest story (about how cool he is) came the next day. As I was having lunch with one of his inner circles, I learnt that: " President Sarkozi wanted to have a private meeting with Dylan ...You know how Dylan is ...It was difficult to arrange ...So after the show - Carla hurries Sarkozy to backstage. There - he (Sarkozy) was so excited to meet and greet Bob ...After an awkward moment Bob warmed up. He even gave Sarkozy his belt ...Then - he left."

Dolores Clara Fernandez Huerta (born April 10, 1930) is a noted American labor leader and civil rights activist who, along with César Chávez, co-founded the National Farmworkers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers (UFW). Huerta has received numerous awards for her community service and advocacy for workers', immigrants', and womens' rights, including the Eugene V. Debs Foundation Outstanding American Award and the United States Presidential Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights.^[1] As a role model to many in the Latin community, Huerta is the subject of many corridos (ballads) and murals.