Hope

I'm not really into politics, but the events of the past few weeks or so surrounding President Obama's innauguration give me the urge to just bust open a blog. Just one though, then it's back to the usual semi-mindless chatter.

To give you a little background, I'm about as middle-of-the road as they come. I lean mainly left when it comes to issues surrounding the environment, women's choices, and gay marriage. I lean mainly to the right when it comes to free enterprise with business, finances and the military, in general.

My dad and brother lean as far right as Atilla the Hun and you can't tell them anything. So I don't bother trying. My mom is pretty middle-of-the-road with a conservative lean. But what I think she and I have in common is the ability to see the grey areas. People like my dad and brother, to me, have their views so distorted, that they don't take into account the outside edges. And I have friends who swing so far left, they too are on the outside edges. There's a big area of grey in the middle.

But let's dig into the elections a bit. I was really torn last year when it came down to who to vote for. Both parties have had their pendulums swing so far to the right or left, that it's difficult to really make a sound decision for who will do the best job for this country, which is what it's supposed to be about in the first place. Nearly every leader, no matter if it's the President or just a general manager at your office, comes into the job thinking that they will do something that makes a difference. Nobody goes into a job with the intent of doing a bad job.

That said, it was a tough decision on who to vote for, but I voted. Both candidates had qualities I liked and both had negatives which I didn't. I struggled to figure out who I thought would be best for our country.

After living in the south for most of my adult years, I've found that there still is a separation of white vs. black in many places. When I lived a short six months in Greenville, Missisippi there was never a bigger gap than I saw there. Literally, there was a white and black side of town, with train tracks separating the two. I grew up in California and was absolutely floored that this kind of divide still existed.

Today, I'm proud of our country that the population was able to see a man instead of a black man. Or at least I hope they did. I'm happy to see that there was a large increase in the number of black voters who turned out to vote. I'm thrilled to see that a lot of white folks were able to do the same. It really shouldn't be an issue from here out, because now we, as a nation know that we can see past that.

But in saying all of this, I have to wonder if there were a vast majority of people who were caught up in the fervor of being able to say that they voted for the first black president or being able to say they were a part of history, no matter how small. I wonder that once this tide got started, it just couldn't be slowed down.

Last week, in the events leading up to the innauguration, the media continued to play to the frenzy, interviewing people off the streets who thought that President Obama will be the savior of the free world or the person who will make their lives good again. I fear that these same people are going to be so let down once he digs in and gets to work. There are many folks out there who think that change will happen quickly and that it will all be for the better. The honeymoon will wear off and they will see that the government is more than just the president.

If these people understand our system, they will need to open their eyes to the rest of the Senate and House. They will need to keep an eye out for what is happening locally that they can do something about. They can only change their own positions in life; they can't wait for someone from up above to come change things for them.

I only hope that this country, conservatives, liberals, and moderates alike, can just take their views, not skew them with vile hatred and support our country and our president to the best of their ability. I hope that President Obama is able to make the changes he wants to with the support of Congress and I hope that they are the right decisions for the country, not the political party. I hope that people will be able to see the mistakes for what they are. And I hope that those who oppose him can find some good in what he does do well. I hope we can get past the political diatribes on both sides to see the grey area which resides in the middle; the grey area which most of the population probably truely resides.

It's going to be a very interesting four years.