44- The Winning Number

Our challenges may be new, the instruments with which we meet them may be new, but those values upon which our success depends- honesty and hard work; courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism- these things are old.....

As I sat on the train on my way to work today I conversed with two older women about Obama's inauguration and the special meaning it has to each of them. The first woman I spoke to was of African-American decent. I asked her "How do you feel about having a black president?" She said. "Well, I helped put him there." The past election was the first time she voted since she was eligible 40 years ago. That was the epitome of change for me. It wasn't just the older black woman I spoke to that put Barack into the White House. It was all the men and women of black getnerations who endured the barbarity of Jim Crow, who knew the humiliation of seperate water fountains and the terror of growling dogs. They never let up, they fought back with sit-ins and boycotts and ballots. We would have not witnessed history on 12:02pm, Jan 20th, if the older men and women from the black community backed down half a century ago. They paved the way for people of color to seek out their dreams and to never hold back for anyone or anything. I truely appreciate what they have done for our nation as a whole. Without them, the word change would still something African-Americans aspire to achieve and not something we have accomplished from this day forward.

The other woman I spoke to was a 65 year old white woman. She told me that we as a nation have finally accomplished what we should have sought out since 1776 when we claimed that all men were created equal. I feel like we are finally heading in the right direction, but we still have a lot of work to do.

From this day forth we as a nation should never let up.