I know everyone is probably as sick of hearing about the elections.  Please bear with me, as I have to say one last thing to the dear friends and family who read this blog before I let the issue die.

Please, please, please do not continue to participate in the division of this country as it has been over the past decade.  Yes, Barack Obama was elected the next president of the United States last night. (Please take into consideration before you start casting stones at me, that I did not vote for him… nor did I vote for McCain.)  I’m not saying that you have to like the fact that Obama will soon be our president.  I’m not saying you have to jump on the Obamawagon.  You don’t have to change your political views and throw your beliefs into the wind… but please, don’t sink to the level of the sleezy, mud-slinging, name-calling, rumor-starting campaigns we have seen over the past several months.

There is nothing we can do to change the outcome of the election.  That is in the past.  There is, however something we can do to change what happens over the span of the next 4 years.  We can unite together as a country.  We can come together as a people.  We can take the good from this election and build off of it to make something beautiful.

Despite what people may think of him, Barack Obama has accomplished something incredible.  It is a feat that has never before been witnessed in the history of our great nation.  He overcame a bias that has plagued our nation for well over 100 years.  He showed us that we live in a place where anything… anything is possible.  If we have a president who believes that his dreams, if worked for, can be achieved, why then, can we not believe the same thing as a nation?  Why can’t we all, the Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Constitutionists and Independents… men, women, gay, straight, Catholic, Baptist, Protestant, Buddhist, Mormon, Muslim, rich or poor… everyone, believe in a dream of unity and change?

We have an opportunity now, today, right this very minute, that we will never ever have again.  We can save our country from disaster if we are but willing to take down the defensive personal barriers and listen to one another.  We can sacrifice, all of us, to create the nation we should be… the nation our founding fathers invisioned more than 233 years ago.

Or.

We can continue the trend we’ve had over the past 8 years, where half of the nation complains while the other half complains about the complainers… only this time the roles are reversed.  And look how far that’s taken us.

America, it’s time to grow up.  It’s time to put on the big boy pants and learn that acting like petty high school students in a popularity contest is getting us nowhere.  Now is the time to show that you have class, integrity and maturity.  Now is the time to show the world, your neighbors, your friends and your family that you can be better than the people you have loathed for the past 2 terms of presidency.

I know you can do it.  I pray that you can do it.  If you can’t do it… well… then you have no idea what this country is all about, and you have my pity.  It’s time for a change, and that change needs to start with you.