A Blog For Hope

So the race isn't final and I don't want to jinx it but I find myself watching the numbers rolling in and I'm very emotional about the shift that has occurred in this country.

I'm not African American (I have a keen ability to state the obvious) and I don't know what it feels like to be African American but I am part of a group that is discriminated against and judged for something that is beyond your choosing and control...I know what it feels like to be hated and shunned by people who think they have the moral high ground and the right to sit in judgment because they are the "other" which makes them the "better."

The fact that racism is depleting in our nation to the degree that we may have a black president gives me hope that homophobia will deplete to the degree that we will have the right to marry (or some legal equivalent), to inherit each others' property without taxation, to make medical decisions for our partners, to have joint custody of a child...I'm not dreaming big here. I'm not asking for a gay man in the white house or a lesbian for VP - just that America will become enlightened enough that they realize that the hate that they used to put in to women, then in to minorities and now in to homosexuals has to be stopped. That someone being different from you is not a threat to who you are. That in order to be seen as right and good you don't have to make another group wrong and bad. That judgment of others is NOT part of the Christian belief. That discrimination is NOT in the teachings of Jesus. That Christ died for ALL.

OK, stepped up on a soapbox a bit...but it's an emotional issue for me. I live this every day. This blog isn't about the soap box...

This blog is about hope.

It is seeing all these young people who look at Barak and do not see him for the color of his skin but for the quality of his character.

This is a Dr. King speech leaping to life.

This is Rosa Parks keeping her seat to start a revolution that will one day break down discrimination enough that Americans will choose an African American man as their representative to the World and their leader.

This is the beginning of the end of the oppressive beliefs and behaviors.
This is the a sign that one day people will be judged for WHO they are and not their label of Woman, Man, Gay, Black, Hispanic, Christian, Muslim, Conservative, Liberal.......

I can't even imagine what it feels like to be an African American tonight. I can't imagine what salve it must be on the wounds that discrimination has inflicted. I can't imagine what healing it must bring.

I hope that one day my minority group can experience the same kind of healing.
For the first time in eight years, I have hope for Americans that maybe we can come together.