Mission Accomplished?

I'm writing this on the eve of what is building to be one of the most historic days in American history. At least so I'm told. Today, in remembrance and celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is a day to reflect on the struggles of the oppressed minority in our country and to do what we all can do to make our world a little better than how we found it. Taking one day out of the year to try and better and repair centuries of bitter racial divides is clearly not enough. However the formation of the day itself marks the recognition of a step in the right direction.

There is still work to be done. Not only on trying to mend a broken relationship between races in the United States, but on erasing the lines that keep us apart. We all hold unique and special traits among ourselves as individuals and as descendants of differing nationalities. Reaching out and coming together by identifying what makes us, well us, and not necessarily trying to erase those distinctions to live free but rather accepting them for what they are and realizing we're not all that different underneath it all. This seems to be the objective of a different, and not necessarily new, generation of people clamoring for something they are not used to.

Tomorrow when President-Elect Barack Hussein Obama becomes the 44^th President of the United States of America, it will signal a change throughout the presidential history in our country. Never has a person that is not a white male, who was also not of meager means, been elected into one of the most powerful offices in the free world. For those who support Mr. Obama it will be a time of hope and optimism. For those that didn't cast their vote for the former U.S. Senator it will be a time of initial criticism and a game of wait-and-see.

Whether you support the man or not, we as citizens are called on to support the office. Our country is facing what seems to be dire consequences from many problems that most cannot identify. At least specifically. Leaving most people I talk to confused and unable to ascertain what is going to happen next. Whether it affects your livelihood or the livelihood of those around you, to say we live in a giant uncertainty is a gross understatement.

Will those that support Mr. Obama, and even to a larger extreme those that revere him before stepping foot in the White House, be able to temper their ideas a promise of hope and change? Will those who despise the fact that he has ascended to the Office of the President be patient enough to see his policies through? Or will they pile on and start the campaign for 2012 before the first 100 days have been completed? It seems the old credo of “what's so funny about peace, love and understanding?” aren't just lyrics in an Elvis Costello song. I've also heard that patience is a virtue.

Using a presidential election as a metaphor for racial change is just one of the many aspects on what will take place tomorrow, or what has already taken place by the time most of you read this. On a symbolic level, something has been accomplished and for that we should take a moment to be proud of it. However, our time to stand back and admire what has happened has a short window attached to it.

Right now we face real problems that lie beyond the obvious racial divisions in our country. A weakening dollar and manufacturing industry. A crumbling banking empire. A military complex that grows stronger as those who provide it's dutiful service become overextended. Even the basics of holding on to your job and making ends meet is in jeopardy. So placing your hopes in one man, however noble or disingenuous you see him as, is a game that the public cannot afford to play these next four years. Change must start at a household and neighborhood level. Taking care of ourselves in our communities is what must happen in order to resurrect and save ourselves. Change shouldn't come from above, it should come from you and I.