Take Off Your Blinders

As I read several news articles yesterday regarding Senator Obama’s grandmother’s passing, I couldn’t help but think how the world works in mysterious ways. With every dark cloud, God gives us a ray of sunshine. While Obama’s grandmother died on Sunday, today he will be elected to be the 44th President of the United States.

I know what it is like to have a grandparent as a primary parent. It’s different than having a mom and a dad. It’s different then the relationship others have with their grandparents if they were not raised by them and never lived with them. It’s wonderful and yet scary. All at the same time.

I worried about my grandfather’s death from the age of seven. I can remember many sleepless nights worrying about when it was going to happen, where I was going to be, and how both my mom and I would react. These worries spanned the course of 20 years. (Heck, I still worry about how my mom is dealing with it…)

It was around this time last year that my grandpa began his journey towards the light. And with the dark cloud that brought his death, was a beautiful ray of sunshine – Bo.

I’m not telling you this to encourage you to vote for Barack because his Grandmother died. I feel confident that he will win the election today based simply on what I have read in the blogosphere. I tell you this because it is just another example of how I have changed in the past year. How my perspective has shifted.

My mom said recently that Grandpa would “roll over in his grave” if he knew I voted for black man. I looked at her and said with much authority, that I didn’t think he would. As I’m sure that Heaven has changed many of Grandpa’s perspectives as well. I have a feeling that once inside those “pearly gates” many of the things we have said and done on earth seem quite ridiculous. Racism, war, religious persecution, the political process, just to name a few…

This year, I voted for tolerance — of all races and religions. I voted to allow gays to have the same rights as married couples. To protect the rights of the unborn in ways that are important to me — to support stem cell research on donated embryos, to ensure the life of a woman who already has to face the most difficult decision of her life – to give up her life or her babies. I voted for peace. I voted for change.

Most of all, I voted for society. While I may not agree with you and you may not agree with me, I think that the fundamental issue in our world today is the inability to see past those disagreements. The inability to agree to disagree. You may not vote for the candidate I support. You may not practice a religion I believe in. You may want to marry someone of the same sex. And I do not believe it should be within the governments control to place limits on your freedoms.

The problem with our society isn’t a lack of morals. It’s a lack of tolerance. An apathic view of the world that has blinders on to anything that is outside of the primary field of vision. Today, I simply ask you to take off your blinders and to see the world from a new angle, outside of your personal tunnel vision. I took my blinders off a year ago, and that’s why I chose to vote for Barack Obama today.