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I'm talking about something more substantial. It's the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs; the hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores; the hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta; the hope of a millworker's son who dares to defy the odds; the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too.
Hope in the face of difficulty, hope in the face of uncertainty, the audacity of hope: In the end, that is God's greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation, a belief in things not seen, a belief that there are better days ahead.
Yes, I’m showing my age. I admit my years. Some will say I’m stuck in the past with values that don’t apply to today. I can handle this. I’ve witnessed change in America that few are privileged to see. I was born in the rural south where my father farmed with mules instead of a tractor. I rode to town in a wagon drawn by those mules to get my annual pair of shoes and three sets of denim bibs. These were school clothes too. I wasn’t alone in wearing bib overalls to school. In effect, I lived in the horse and buggy age. In my lifetime I’ve seen television come into our homes, a man walk on the moon, and an expansion in our economy that made us rich by those 1950 standards that I first knew.
I saw the civil rights amendment become law. The colored only water fountain was still there but it wasn’t labeled “colored only” any more. And on the day that amendment became law I saw a young black man cross the town square in Holly Springs, Mississippi and put his dime in the porch horse in front of the drug store and take his ride, the ride he had been denied all his young life because he was black. In spite of the civil rights amendment there was still denial of opportunity in America. Where an employer once said, “git yoah black ass outta heah, boy”, when a person of African descent came looking for a job, it was now, “we not hirin now, come back next year”. (wink, wink)
Yes, in spite of the denial of whites, opportunity was denied people of color. As a member of the white race, I failed to see this denial. It flowed over and past me. I was insensitive to the plight of a young person who lacked the opportunity to better himself with higher education and was denied jobs in the trades because of his skin color. I, at least, could get my foot in the door at the construction companies. I was white.
Over the years, I’ve learned to see past the fog of self satisfaction we privileged people have pulled across our eyes. I found excuse for minorities who were stuck in their place and unable to pull themselves out of it. In the last decade, though, I’ve found that I believe less in those excuses. I’ve felt for some time that anyone with guts can be honest and hard working and successful. Unfortunately, the excuse persists for those who are too lazy to seek that success through hard work. I’ve also realized that we as Americans are lazy and demanding of services without paying for them. We’ve all used the excuses that are no longer available to us. We have the light of day shining on us finally.
Last night I watched as John McCain, a true American hero and patriot, congratulated Barak Obama for his victory in the Presidential election. A person of color, a man who rose from poverty and a broken home, had overcome all obstacles to become the most powerful person in America and so, in the world. There are NO excuses now. America isn’t holding ANYONE down now. Those of us who make excuses about hard times and high taxes can look at what hard work can do for ANYONE who has the guts to buckle down. NO more excuses. Don’t sit in your welfare apartment and cry about lack of opportunity. You may not have an executive position with a car to start with but if you have the ability, there is NO limit to your success. And I, like over 50% of Americans was able, for the first time, to vote for a man of African descent for President.
So, on this morning after let’s abandon our excuses. Let’s KNOW that we can’t have a free lunch, whether it’s welfare that comes once a month or deficit spending that gives us services now that our children and grandchildren will pay for. So, America, stop crying. No more excuses. Let’s all settle down to working for what we want and let’s make America respected in the world again. Let’s all lose a pound or two. Let’s all pick up a piece of litter. Let’s all protect our children and our environment because that is their true inheritance. If we drill for oil, let’s make sure we find other energy sources to replace the last resource we’re wasting. Let’s all try just a little harder to earn the self respect we, without reason, give ourselves. Let’s be the kind of Americans an American can be proud of. Let’s all grow up and take charge of our own lives. Barak Obama is our President. He earned it because he used the gifts that God gave him and never sat down to cry because he didn’t have opportunity. And he earned it.
NO MORE EXCUSES!
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read more blogs!
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lazareth
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Nov 5 @ 9:23AM
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loved every word of it and no exactly where you're coming from..... kudos
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summerbreeze916
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Nov 5 @ 9:48AM
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Good blog, sloriver!  These are my favorites.....
So, America, stop crying. No more excuses. Let’s all settle down to working for what we want and let’s make America respected in the world again.
So, America, stop crying. No more excuses. Let’s all settle down to working for what we want and let’s make America respected in the world again.
Marvelous..............simply marvelous!  Kudo... 
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maggiemae684
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Nov 5 @ 9:54AM
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BRAVO.... 
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missliss78
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Nov 5 @ 11:36AM
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THIS is one helluva blog!
Thank you, thank you so much for writing & posting this this morning!
Here's to peace & unity throughout our great land.~*~
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Tunes4u
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Nov 5 @ 11:50AM
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Amen Bra!
~*~
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SallyF
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Nov 5 @ 12:08PM
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You have a way with words, Jake,....thank you for putting into words the thoughts that many of us share.
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butterfly943
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Nov 5 @ 12:54PM
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 Wonderful blog 
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alivenwell351
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Nov 5 @ 2:30PM
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I didn't vote for Obama because I just didn't agree with much of what he thinks. Though McCain is nowhere near my hearts desire, I felt he was far and away the lesser of 2 evils.
But it really didn't hit me what a monumental moment in America this really is until this morning I watched the news. I too have been around long enough to remember when there was real systemic racism. I can remember when minorities really were held back simply because of the color of skin. I can remember vividly the civil rights movement. I remember getting involved. But for a long time now, I've been wondering with the red carpet out for so long, why so many minorities have not done any better than they have.
You are so right....NO MORE EXCUSES. While racism still exists, last night proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that mainstream America REALLY has gone far beyond the attitude of the 60's and nothing can hold ANYONE of ANY color back.
I really hope that this is the event that finally drives that lesson home. If it does, than Obama becoming America's first African American president will have been a very good thing in and of itself, regardless of what else may happen in the future.
And if Obama really does want to be the president of ALL Americans and take America in the right direction, that would just be icing on the cake.
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redtigr
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Nov 5 @ 2:49PM
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Excellent post, Slo...
~*~
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ColdinWisconsin
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Nov 5 @ 5:35PM
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~*~
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observed50
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Nov 5 @ 8:19PM
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Slo> Great personal story...letting us all see another place of the transition in our lives.
May I offer a word of caution though...
Do you note that use of the word...'anyone?'
'Anyone' is a particular...an instance...a singular event.
To then measure 'everyone' by anyone, is a logical fallacy of the confusion of the particular with the universal. It is one of the great traps of social mythologies that underlay cultural explanations and justifications of the reward mechanisms of any given society.
If every (universal) male is a red head, and Bob is a male, then by the universal claim of 'every male,' Bob must be a red head.
But what you have pointed out through 'anyone' is that Bob (any 'one') is a (particular) red head. From that...what can we conclude about every (universal) other male???
Nothing. Nada. Not a singular thing.
Any other male?
Nada, Nothing. Not a thing.
What Obama's victory helps us do, is to extend the sense of agency and possibility. It helps model that 'anyone' can do 'anything' but the reality is, modern societies are not geared for 'everyone' to succeed, to be well-off, to have adequate education or adequate healthcare.
Can every worker become a CEO? No...just some.
Has having white presidents ever meant that the largest group of poor in the United States, whites (45% of the poor), have stopped being the largest group of poor in the US? Has it ever meant that white poor are paid living wages? Has it meant that they have good schools, adequate social resources or resource-rich social networks?
The rate of white poverty has remained almost constant since the 1970s, hovering around 9-10% after dropping 10% with the social programs of the Johnson presidency.
We still want to believe/think that paying a non-living wage to so many service people is okay because it will inspire them to work harder and do more. Who benefits when we swallow these myths without questioning the logical outcomes of such absurdity?
I think it awe-inspiring that Obama has broken through to 'anyone.' Before, most of us knew...not just anyone. But, we will be sucked into the social mythology that wants us to blame the reality of 36-45 million people living below the line of poverty by income, as being somehow about them, their bootstraps and their will, rather than recognize that generations of poor have tried to lift themselves to find too many obstacles to overcome.
And one of those obstacles will continue to be in many pockets in the US, race. The failure of urban schools is not accidental that it is about children of color. It isn't about social policy of old where the good ol' boys constructed the social prison of Jim Crow. It is about the social policies of neglect that allow a people to metaphorically starve without actively taking their food.
Good blog. There is much we can now do to come together and work on the social mythologies which have kept us blind to each other's struggles for so long. It is not about what can government do FOR us...but rather...what can it do WITH us.
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