Finally Over

The election, that is... I know there were a lot of races voted upon yesterday but only one really sticks out in my mind. The president. As many have said, it feels like this race has lasted forever, what with the ads and calls and all. I am not a fan of these. In fact, many times I end up voting against people because I have found their campaigning to be so annoying. Anyway, back to last night's election. How exciting was that? I am not necessarily talking about WHO won but rather the reaction. I loved that there were watch parties all across the country (and the world) and that people were actually drawn to tears over the announcement that our country had elected her first African American president. Generally speaking, I am not much concerned with politics and have never felt strongly about a particular candidate so, I thought it was a beautiful thing and I am so happy for the people who feel that this will better their lives. I was watching CNN and my favorite comment came from my good friend William Bennet, former Sec. of Education for Reagan. He said (and I paraphrase), "In terms of education, no longer will there be any excuses for students or their parents as to why their child is not excelling or performing well." (I am not a big fan of excuses. I prefer accepting responsibility for one's actions.) And while Obama may not have been who I voted for, I am going to give him a chance. No amount of money could ever convince me to take the job as President of the United States and I believe anyone who is willing is do it, should be given the chance. I am not going to buy in to any of the conspiracy theories that have been passed around. I, of course, hope he succeeds because our country needs it. Actually, a little part of me was excited to witness this part of history. I am excited that our children will not know life without the possibility of an African American president. I hope that this breaks down a lot of barriers that have been passed down by the generations before us. I think it is a beautiful symbol of God's having created all 'men' equal and I hope my children take that lesson to heart. My baby girl was excited too. This is how she took the news....As a side note, we actually went to vote on Friday. When we got home from trick-or-treating we had three political calls on our machine. Saturday we got two more. I told Christopher I thought the country should be technically advanced enough to register a household as having already voted so we could be exempt from the last minute hustle. At first I meant just in phone calls but the more I thought about it, I realized it could be done with TV too. And how nice would life be without political commercials? Can you imagine what the early voting lines would be like if people learned they could live without campaigning? Ooooh, boy. So, I am going to work on this little device and have it figured out by 2012. Let me know if you have any technical knowledge at all on such matters, because I could probably use a little help. Or a lot.