United We Stand, Divided We Fall

Who else cried when Obama made his acceptance speech? The fact that a black man could be the president of our country makes me sooo proud and so emotional. I don't agree with everything he plans to do, nor all his ideologies, but I do believe it is about time for the African American population to be represented. I am saddened by all the conservative bigotry and comments made recently. Not to point fingers, but most of the ignorant, racist comments I've heard lately have come from the middle to upper white class. Tack on "christian" to that as well.

I don't claim to know it all, and I'm pretty sure I'm actually very ignorant, especially when it comes to politics. But if I have to hear another comment about taxes and how it is just encouraging people to be lazy and not get jobs, I think I might spit. Until you understand the cycle of poverty, what it's like to be a single mother working 3 jobs just to try to make ends meet, have grown up without good role models, good schools, or anyone in your life who will root for you to succeed, you have no business complaining. I have no problem working 4 out of the 12 months a year to give my money back in taxes to social programs. Honestly, if I wasn't taxed, most of that money would be going to good causes anyway. Yes, it would be nice if government didn't have to tax us because everyone took responsibility to not only give that much of their money, but to also take responsibility of our social ills and devote time and work to help support them. But that's not the case. Americans, as a whole, are greedy and selfish. Definitely not all of them, but you know the ones. Even us good ones are still greedy and selfish. It's time for us to admit that. It's time for us to work together and make sacrifices TOGETHER so that no child will ever go hungry at home alone, so that no more children will have to join gangs or sell drugs because that's the only job they can get, and no more single mothers will have to pimp themselves out in order to put food on their table. Things like this go on every day in thousands of families and neighborhoods in Missouri alone. Yet we forget that it is us, the white middle and upper class who have so many times furthered this problem. We spend our money on video games, brand new SUVS, lavish vacations, and nice homes in the county, working hard to not ever have to come into contact with "what goes on in the city" and the reality of the horror so many have to face. We pray in our nice, air-conditioned church buildings, littered with flat screen T.V.'s and equipped with multi-thousand dollar sound systems, for the poor and the hurting, and we act like we care. Sometimes we even "help out" once or twice a year, daring to go into the city to do a service project with our church. Then we drive back home, thanking God we are safe and that we will never have to know what so many of these people we just encountered have to live through daily.

Nevermind selling all that we have to give to the poor. Nevermind bearing each other's burdens together. Nevermind denying yourself one lousy vacation or saving $18,000 per year by sending your kids to public school instead of the rediculously priced (and not even nearly as good) private one so that you can contribute more to the causes that so often get overlooked. Nevermind serving "the least of these" or even trying to understand where they are coming from...

Anyways, kinda got off on a tangent:) Just sayin - I'm glad there will finally be a change, even if it is not drastic, even if it is not in agreement with all my morals and convictions (cause McCain's definitely weren't, either). I hope people can put aside their racial assumptions and bigotries. I hope America can embrace Obama, and all work together to be a catalyst for change.

P.S. I'm an Idealist, if you couldn't tell.