Why it matters

Election '08 is over; I can go outside and breathe the clean campaign-free air once again...at least until the inauguration. I had my reasons for not supporting Barack Obama, but am obligated to pray sincerely for him as our new president. (Who knows, maybe if I'd prayed more for George W. Bush he may not have blown it so badly--or at least my attitude would have been better about it.) And I do pray for him. He will need all the prayer he can get.

I said the air is clear. That's not really true, as the opponents of Prop. 8 won't accept that we the majority of California voters want to preserve the traditional institution and definition of marriage. They're behaving like thug-brats who will stomp their feet--in our faces, mind you--until they get their way. Regardless of one's opinion concerning homosexuals and their rights, our constitutional democracy should be respected. If you lose, as the Republicans did in the national, you shouldn't get to whine for a sympathetic judge who'll overturn the results. I imagine that's what will happen here. Our governor mole-in-chief encourages that very thing. (As my friend says, "They voted for The Terminator; what they got was Arnold Schwarzenegger".)

Aside from my Irish, whose presence and love have been my earthly salvation for 36 years, I have two glorious bright spots in my life: Christian, almost 2; and Jeremy, 7 mos. It sounds self-absorbed, but they are the main reasons I still care what happens to this country. I can't resolve the war in Iraq or fix the cruddy public education system or the national health care crisis or smite corrupt politicians and unfair "journalists" (oh, if I only could!) but I can swing a giggling little guy up to touch the chandelier; or let him touch a drool-covered finger to a bright board book page; or rock and soothe him till Mommy (our daughter) comes back. And I can teach him "Jesus loves me, this I know".

Lest I forget: Camila. She's our young friend from church who comes over on Thursdays and goes to AWANA with me. I get her a lot during vacations and school breaks, too. She's so much a part of our family that it's hard to remember sometimes that she has a mom and lives somewhere else. She knows where everything in our house is and goes right for what she wants--the privilege of the beloved.

Here's to the boys; and here's to sweet Camila. Sorry we didn't leave this world in better shape than when we found it. We haven't given up, though.