A Message to Sen. Joe Manchin: 

Few citizens are ever challenged to make a choice quite as important as yours.  It will define for all time who you are, what you stand for, and how you will be remembered.  It is an either/or choice. There is no middle ground.  Even procrastination is not an option. Your honor and your integrity are on the line.  But so are humanity's.  Horace Mann--a statesman, humanitarian, and a person of honor--grew up in poverty, and overcame the odds.  He became a lawyer, a statesman, and the first President of Antioch College.  He knew his mission in life was to inspire his students and the entire human race.  He did exactly that with these words: "Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity." 

Those words stand not only as a tribute to him but as a clarion call to all who are privileged to reach a such a moment in their lives.  They guide me as surely as if they came to me from heaven.  I am older than most politicians.  In the past 10 years I have written more than 1,000 compositions, authored two books, have been visited by more than 700,000 visitors who left more than 5,000 beautiful reviews for me.  I accept them in gratitude as my answer to Mann's challenge. 

Your challenge is bigger because you were selected to have a bigger role for millions of others to follow.  Take the next step, Joe, and answer the call from Mann and from all those who await your decision.  Join with Pres. Joe Biden, V-P Kamala Harris, and humanity by joining them at this moment in time.  You will be forever remembered as someone who rose above the fray and did what he knew was the right thing to do.  He led his political party to higher grounds and guided his nation out from its past and into the future.  Millions upon millions of grateful Americans, and then all of humanity, will find this world a better place because of your recognition of what needed to be done at this most propitious moment.  Vaya con Dios, Joe.  Vaya con Dios.