Moving On

The election is over, the votes have been tallied and we have a new President. It is certainly a history making election. We will have the first black President of the United States. I believe that this says volumes about this country and it's people. We have come a long way from when I was a young boy and the civil rights movement was in full swing.

I grew up in northern Illinois and now live in Atlanta, the home of Martin Luther King, Jr. I have seen both the north and the south. While people would lead you to believe that the major racial issues were in the south don't let them fool you. There has always been just as much prejudice in the north, sometimes and someplaces even more. I grew up in a small farming town of 12,000 people, Kewanee, and it was the largest town in the county. As such we had 100% of all the black population in the county. There was a nearby small town that still had a law on the books that a black person could not be seen on the streets of the town after dark.

My mother had a great faith in God and taught my sister, brother, and I that you should treat each person as just that, an individual person. That in God's eyes we are all equal, all His children, and that He certainly loves us equally whether we want to look at each other that way or not. In reality she taught us to "Judge people by the content of their character, not the color of their skin" long before Dr. King made that statement. To this day I believe that statement sums up the whole issue very neatly, and was the most important statement he made.

I was very fortunate to have a significant number of black friends growing up and still do to this day. One very close and dear one who I count as true brother to this day. I can still very vividly remember the day that Dr. King was shot and killed. We were in high school. I remember the anguish, the emotional pain, and the terrible hurt that my friend, my brother, went through. I shared that feeling with him in that I truly understood what a horrible, tragic, event it was. To know that we were a country of so much hatred was so troubling and depressing. I have always thought it so terribly sad that there are so many people who feel so badly about themselves that they have to have that kind of hate against other people to make themselves feel better.

I don't agree with President elect Obama's policies. I did not vote for him, not because of the color of his skin, but because I don't agree with the content of his character, and the things that I hear him say he wants to do. I am very realistic in the fact that President Bush has made mistakes. But the vitriol and hatred that has been directed his way is really beyond my understanding. Fortunately he has big shoulders. I think, I hope, that someday he will be judged by the content of his character, which I believe is very strong and grounded in faith, during the difficult times he has faced.

While I don't agree with President elect Obama's politics, he is now our president, my president. And I will stand behind him, pray for him, pray for this country, and this world. We face very difficult times ahead. This country and it's people have always been very resiliant, very strong. Now is the time for all of us to come together, work together, as one nation, to solve and work through the issues that face us. I will be doing what I can, where I can, and thanking God every day that he allowed me to be born in the greatest country on the planet.