We're Making History Today

I can't help it. I'm am excited. Not because Bush is leaving office, although that's decidedly a good thing imo, but because we're going to make history today. It is a new era. I know that sounds trite but in my opinion it is.

When I was young I went to an all white pool. Blacks weren't allowed in. I still remember the change in society's laws and their arrival to the facility. Some parents refused to allow their children to swim there afterwards.

I remember the owner of a department store in Charleston barricading himself inside with a shotgun and refusing to allow blacks to shop in his store.

I remember the little school on the hill that used to be the "colored" school.

and now we are going to see our first black president. I am proud of America. Proud to the point of tears. Barack Obama's inaguration signals progress. Signals hope.

I was blessed with a father and mother who saw color, appreciated that people were different in many ways, but didn't make the difference in how they treated people. A man was a man regardless of color of his skin, money in his pocket or cut of his clothes. I am thankful for their influence.

Prejudice is still an ugly fact of our society but...

We're making history today and I am so excited to be able to see it and experience it in some form.