Today

I consider myself quite patriotic. I love this country and have great faith in the amazing document we call our Constitution. I vote, I write letters (okay, emails) and make calls to my elected officials voicing my support and my concerns on many issues. I take my citizenship in this country seriously and gratefully.
With that being said, my current full-time position - motherhood has given me an entirely different perspective on today's events. My kids teachers have been a bit excited about the inauguration of President Elect Obama today which has extended itself into the homework arena. My Fourth-grader especially, as his most recent writing assignment was to explain the significance of MLK Day and the inauguration of Obama the following day. As he and I have spent the last few days struggling to write the paper I began to realize that the true significance of these events is that to our rising generation, they aren't significant at all. It is truly no big deal to my kids that the new President is African American - and why should it be? We spend an awful amount of energy trying to teach our children that they can be anything they want to be - and so can all of their friends, no matter the color.
It seems counterintuitive to make such a big deal about it now - to point out to this wonderful rising generation that the color of someone's skin is so important. . . . don't get me wrong, it's a pretty cool deal, but aren't there more important things going on?
I can't count on one hand the number of friends who are out of work, who are fighting terrible illnesses, who worry each day how they will get through tomorrow . . . somehow the color of Mr Obama's skin just isn't as important to me as what's inside that skin is - and how it will affect the future of all the people I know and love - hopefully in a few years we can celebrate that.