I didn’t write this yesterday, because I just reached the point of saturation with all the blogs about voting and candidates and elections.  As uncharacteristically excited as I have been about this particular election season and the voter turnout, I had a dull ache that had started to settle behind my eyeballs about the whole thing and the almost overwhelming desire to slug someone.

There was one particular personal episode that did. just. piss. me. off.

Our uncontested races are “lumped”.  That is you vote for either all of them, or none of them, as a slate.

I cannot tell you how much, in my not-so-humble-opinion, that practice sucks.

There was one uncontested race where I had pretty clear negative feelings against the sole candidate, and absolutely wasn’t going to give him my vote even if he WAS the only dog in the race.   

There was no mechanism to vote a write in. And that explained the scream of frustration heard from behind the little screen that caused the little blue-haired-election-lady to move in my direction.

I should have asked for a paper ballot right then and there, but I didn’t.  Considering the makeup of our election officials, the fact that they misspelled my name on the rolls – resulting in my being viewed as suspect to begin with – I am not sure that barking up that tree would have gotten me any apples.

I just didn’t vote for ANY of them.

So THERE!

(Insert the cricket-chirping silence of the Universe here)

As I sit here now, the annoyance of that moment is so entirely trivial.

I voted for Obama, not because of his race, but because I truly believed he was the better man to lead this country now,  at this time.

But I had tears of pride in my eyes to realize that, though we may not be there yet, the day is in sight, the day described in one of the most eloquent American speeches ever written:

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

~Martin Luther King, Jr.

The content of our character.  Five simple words that represent a right so profound and so basic – to be judged soley on the content of our character.

I hope that America today is one step closer to the content of our character as a nation.  And let us not be found lacking.