An African-American will never govern me!

Several years ago there was a somewhat controversial sheriff , TR,who ran for governor of my state much to the chagrin of several of the local pundits. As his campaign began to gain steam, there arose a backlash of non-support that adopted the theme " TR WILL NEVER GOVERN ME".

Just a few days ago I was at a golf course and overheard some of the members espousing their gloom and doom about the election and spicing up their comments with some most offensive and ignorant slurs. I started to join the discussion and expose their stupidity but remembered something about not answering a fool and one of them was holding a five-iron and did not appear to be afraid to use it.

As President-elect Obama visited the White House and President Bush yesterday, the press could not keep from falling all over themselves about "this historic moment" and "how proud America should be that we now had an African-American President-elect". As they viewed the photo ops, they struggled and strained to remain politically correct while acknowledging the significance of our country's growth in race relations. As a student of history, I am certainly appreciative of the progress this signifies. If you aren't, rent Ken Burns' series, "Eyes on the Prize" and see if you think Sheriff Jim Clark would have been chanting "Yes, we can!" But I am hoping we have the ability to move even further--and I think I have.

The town I grew up in had three junior highs that funneled into a single high school. In junior high we were extremely competitive with each other athletically and could not wait to beat the other two. We desperately wanted to be the best. A funny thing happened when we moved into high school, however. We still wanted to be the best, but that meant that some of "their" players would have to play and some of "ours" would have to be backups. But we did not think of our new tailback--who would later play at a D-I school--as our "black" tailback, he was now just "our" tailback and a darned good one that we were happy to have carrying the ball for us. Our new teammates did not view our quarterback--who also played D-I football--as their "white" quarterback, just the quarterback.

While I bemoan the significance that the human drama of athletic competition has garnered in our society--alas, the topic of a future blog I am sure--it sure taught us all a simple lesson that I hope has stuck with me. If you are striving for excellence, you go after excellence no matter where it comes from. The coach's daughter may get to play in little league, but if she is not the best, everyone knows it--including the coach and his daughter. In high school, the coach will want the best, no matter who's daughter she is and no matter what her pigmentation might be.

While I am proud that we as a country have made great strides in this area, I hope we can use this moment as a learning opportunity to take even greater ones. That we can see each other as one of God's creations, made in His image. That we can be doers of the words "All men are created equal" and not just hearers of them. That we can get beyond political correctness--which has been needed and useful in its day--and strive together for the excellence of which we are all capable.

Please understand that when I say "an African-American will never govern me!" I am also saying that a Hispanic-American will not, a Chinese-American will not, an Italian-American will not and, yes, even a Caucasian-American will not! President Obama will be my American President and I am proud to be of whatever small assistance I can be to him--just as I was and am for my American President Bush--to help us all make this great country even greater. May God Bless President Bush, President-elect Obama and these United States.