Tuesday, November 4, 2008

I Elect To Be Historical

What chapter is my picture in?

People, people, people...the day is here! My fiancée and I couldn’t sleep last night and managed to stay up until about 5 A.M. before we succumb to sleep. In any event, we ended up heading to the polls around 7:45 A.M. with a sense of history and pride. When we arrived, there a small crowd inside and while I knew everyone wasn’t there for Obama, I had a very strong feeling that folks were like me, in awe of the moment.

There are so many levels of significance and importance to this election. It’s not just about a black man running for President or a woman running as Vice President. This country has been in the toilet for so long that we’ve been in desperate need of a new direction, change, hope. We can continue arguing back and forth about how folks are going to vote along racial line, but we can’t get caught up in that. Racists and sexists won’t disappear because of this election. There will always be those who believe a black man can’t run a country or that a woman will never be ready for the big chair or even the second chair. But this is a momentous occasion. It is like God needed to hit us over the head with a blunt instrument: economic collapse, wars and rumors of wars, climactic changes, and moral warfare. The time is now!

If you can accept that we as a country need to move beyond our fears, apathy, and moral malaise, then we can and should look at this election as more than historically significant. Republicans and Democrats obviously disagree about whom should lead us into this new era, but one thing is clear and bipartisan. That person needs to have a vision rooted into morality, dare I say, Christian values or at least a God-fearing person. When you put God first, all things are possible. We also stop arguing about spreading the wealth. This is a rich country. Why are there homeless people? Why are there millions of children who live in poverty? We have been blessed with so much, yet we don’t believe in sharing. The pervasive me doctrine has led us astray. It’s not about me; it’s about we!

Yes, I believe Barack Obama is that person. It’s not all about experience. We’ve had more than enough experienced people running this country (into the ground). Experience without any vision or moral compass will only lead to depravity. Here we have a married man of conviction and substance. He is intelligent and God-fearing. He is not perfect and nor should we ever expect him to be, but at least, he has the right stuff. If you bake a cake with bad ingredients, the cake will not be good. We finally have someone with all the right ingredients. God willing, the cake will be tasty I had to keep the cake analogy going!

So, I pray that everyone voted. I remember my first election (ugh, Dukakis), but I’ll remember this one for years to come. I hope that it won’t be the last time I get a chance to be part of something important. Let’s keep the Obama family in our prayers and this country. It’s a new day and I pray that Obama will be God’s instrument to lead us into this era!

1 comment:

The Professor said...

I found myself in my office today listening to my iPod's Morning Mix. Shuffle is a funny thing, all of the gospel on the mix kind of got played together in a block. As I listened, I found myself becoming overwhelmed with thoughts of the true meaning of today's events and I was truly thankful to be alive to witness this moment. I think once we understand what it really means to be believers, not using doctrine to espouse our beliefs but living the principles of loving our neighbor and to whom much is given, much is required then I think we can truly raise many out of poverty and dispair and be the country that we say we are.

You are right, we must pray for Obama and all of our leaders, they have a monumental task ahead of them to get us back to prosperity and hope for all!