Politics Aside

I was born in 1963 and in that year many children aspired to be firemen, nurses, policemen, doctors, (for the first time) astronauts, and president of the United States of America. While the phrase “you can be anything you want to be” was heard by and was true for many children, there were few if any women who believed they could actually become president and there were probably fewer people of color (any color other than white) who truly believed they could be president.

I am proud to be an American. I am a patriot and a believer in what our founding fathers established and what I have grown to see is a nation blessed by God. There are parts of our history that I am not proud of in the least, but there are also parts of our history that inspire me to continue to believe that God can and will work in and through this nation. In the 1860’s one of this nation’s greatest sins against humanity was done away with through the signing of the emancipation proclamation. While the devaluation of life to the point of considering another human being to be property was eliminated, the devaluation of some lives continues to this day in this country. For over 100 years those who were “freed” 140 years ago had no realistic chance to be president of the United States or to enjoy many of the “freedoms” we consider foundational to our country’s identity.

In a nation where in 1968 a man who said “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever” received nearly 10 million votes in our presidential election, a man who would have been part of that segregation has been elected president. Praise God that our nation has healed enough in 40 years that I am able to see that the color of a man’s skin no longer eliminates him from consideration to the highest office in our country.