And the results roll in....

I've been up since 5. My alarm was set for 5:30, but Keri, who had stayed up all night listening to live coverage of the election, called to tell me things were looking good. A landslide! This is a historic point in history... HUGE things have happened and I'm reassured that more HUGE things will happen. I may not be in Austin watching all the speeches on TV (will be reading the transcripts though!), driving around honking my horn and whoopin' it up.. but I am here in South Africa... and I'm going to make sure everyone around me and in my office knows that America has elected a black president. I'll admit, I was a little worried. I had read news reports of people saying they wouldn't vote for someone who's black. Ideals, future plans, morals, and everything else aside.... people would not be voting for a man because of his color. A color. Skin. And that all really saddened me. I know everyone has their own personal story. I grew up in an environment where I was taught equality, where, because I was a human being and the person next to me was one as well, we were equal. No amount of money, no neighborhood someone lived in, no color, no religious beliefs, could make one of us better than the other. Differences definitely had us on different planes, but that's where it stopped. When I left Austin over a year ago, most of my good friends were white. This wasn't because I went out and chose them based on their color... it was because that's just the way it was. Now I live in a village where I'm one of the only white people in the area (minus other Peace Corps volunteers and some farm owners). My family here is black. Coworkers are. Fellow post office goers. The people in line at the bakery. My fellow taxi passengers. I came to South Africa and made good friends with people who are black. This isn't because I went out and chose them based on their color... it is because that's just the way it is. I know what it's like to stick out. I know what it's like to have people make grand assumptions about who you are, how much money you have, or what you believe based on your skin tone. I know what it's like to get special treatment because some people feel you deserve it because of the way you look. I'll never fully understand what other people's experiences with all this have been, I know my situation is unique and challenging in its own way, but I can empathize... I know the frustrations and fury that go along with being reduced to just a color. I really do. I am proud to say that I filled in the box next to the candidate I felt was most representing of what I would like to see in America's future. This is an amazing feeling. In the words of a man on a taxi a few months ago..."America is a great country when a black man can be elected president". I am very proud right now... very, very proud.