The Change from Within

Something very special has taken hold of our country. Of course, we have all been following the rhetoric of the mass media with all the understandably euphoric hoopla fluttering about the inauguration of Barack Obama. But that alone is not what we're seeing.

Have you noticed the plethora of African-American's barely able to contain their tears as they are interviewed on TV? Well, I don't know about you but as I watch them tears well up in my eyes as well. Because we are all participating in something that is still unspoken yet so true.

We are seeing African-Americans from all across the US in exactly the same way. Rich or poor, educated or ignorant, cultured or coarse; they are moved to emotional reactions because they are witnessing something they never thought they would see in their lifetimes. They may have all agreed that SOMEDAY an African-American could become President but they provided a degree of protection from the pain of believing that it was out of reach by imagining that magical day as sometime in the distant future. And now the day is here. They are seeing it come true. Even Dr. Martin Luther King, whose birthday we commemorate today dreamed of a day when "his children would be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skins." No mention of people JUST looking at the character and skipping the skin color part. He dreamed, but he and countless wonderful people like him thought it wiser to keep the dreams to a manageable level. And now Barack Obama has shown that we HAVE progressed. The biggest change that Obama and all Americans can point to right now is one that has already happened; one that took place in our souls and which allowed this momentous inauguration to be taking place.

When I was 10 years old my family was traveling through Mississippi and we stopped at a gas station. On my way back to the car after going to the bathroom I stopped to drink from a water fountain. As I lifted my mouth away from the stream of water I saw a sign that said "Colored Water". In my youthful innocence I recall staring oddly at the water and feeling confused because the water wasn't colored. In the fifty years that have passed since then the obvious signs of racial bias have disappeared, replaced by the nefarious, hidden prejudices that have fueled discrimination. We know that there are still people who stubbornly hold on to the need to be divided and who raise children they taint with a darkness that is within. And yet, tomorrow we will witness proof that we have progressed. We are on the road and certainly walking in the right direction.

Do we have a long way to go? Yes...we do but we can do it! The change has come from within and we will continue to mine the unending vein of American ideals! Good will prevail.