Voting For

Well, by now we know that Barack Obama has won the election and will be our next president. Some of you are very, very disappointed and some of us are elated. Some of you are very afraid and some of us can now breathe a sigh of relief.

My wife made an interesting observation last night. She said that in the last two presidential elections we voted AGAINST Bush rather than FOR Gore or FOR Kerry. When I thought about it, it dawned on me that in both races we were not excited about either candidate. We saw each as the lesser of two evils. However, in this race of 2008, we felt inspired and hopeful by this articulate man who has lived in two worlds, one white and one black. We were inspired by his words of hope after eight years of Bush and Cheney and their Neocon comrades. For the first time, in a long time, perhaps…ever, I voted FOR someone.

Our country is in shambles. In all fairness, it was not the fault of any one party or any one administration or president. God knows there is enough blame to go around for all of us. President Obama has inherited a deep pile of dung created by years of self-centered greed and short sightedness. Partisanship between the liberal Left and the conservative Right has brought this country to its knees. Power politics has blinded us to the beauty, the true strength, the fairness and the common sense of this nation.

Some of you may be tempted to say, good, let Obama fall flat on his face and the “other side” will be back in four years to clean up the mess (he?) made. But you see it is not his mess alone. We all had a hand in it. If we can somehow get past the partisan, political bickering and finger pointing, if we can get past our fears and yes, even our prejudices… we might just discover that we all have work to do. We all have sacrifices to make. BUT, if we all pitch in, help our new president…, and help each other, we might just climb out of this stinking hole that we dug and breathe fresh, clean air again.

So, it really is up to us. We can continue to be a nation that looks at the things that divide us or we can come together, roll up our sleeves and get to work. God knows, we have plenty to do, but for the first time in a very long time, I have hope. I have hope that we will see that we are ONE people, one nation and that together we can realize a tomorrow filled with promise. We have this moment in time. What will we do? What will you do?

As for me, I voted for…not against.

FOOD for THOUGHT...