A Time For Congratulations and Hope

Hello Friends,

Happy New Year! For it seems like a new year is upon us. A new era. All around America people are still celebrating. And all over the world, too. Obama stickers and signs and buttons are worn and displayed with pride and honor.

Congratulations to President Elect Barack Obama and to all the people that helped with his campaign. His victory is our victory, and our victory is a victory for the ages--a victory for the World.

Congratulations, also, to my friend Allen Dyer, and to all those that helped with his campaign, especially Tam Dyer. In this past election Allen was elected to the Howard County Board of Education. It was an honor and a joy to work with my friends the Dyers, and I especially enjoyed my time outside the polls on election day. I spoke with hundreds of people as I passed out cards for Allen. I felt the excitement and energy of Democracy in action.

Now is the time to move in a new direction! A better direction! Now is the time to reawaken our hope and faith in humanity! For we can improve. We must improve. If we give in to greed and hate then we all loose. But if we follow the roads of love and respect--those great roads laid down by the brave men and women who have gone before us--then we have the ability to transform this world into a better place.

I was not there for the 1960s, but my country was. And although there is much I could learn about that time period, it's obvious that the 60s were a time of change. A great wave of change flooded this country, seeping--sometimes unbeknownst--into ever heart and every home. That monster wave was so big, and so wide, that its energy can still be felt today. Its momentum still moves us in our quest for peace, in our search for equality, and in our long walk to freedom.

Take it easy, my friends, but take it. Speak softly and carry a big smile, notebook, camera, basket of food--anything but a big stick.