Hope

Yep, I've got it, but not in that giddy, all-out way that recalls one's youth. Nope, cautiously optimistic at best, really. I have said over and again that whichever man became President, he would have the world's hardest job in front of him. So hard, in fact that he might not succeed.

Now that it seems Obama is our leader, I will send up a little prayer of gratitude to the powers that be. I will also send up one for his continued safety. It's an incredible shame that hate can exist solely based on race and skin tone.

Thus, I am not only hopeful for our country's ability to rise out of the quagmire created by eight years of the shrub and untold years of our own bad decisions. I also hope that Mr. Obama is able to live out his own eight years of leadership, peace-making and unification, without a return to the civil rights era's violence by those who fear what makes us different.