VOTE!

Today is Election Day!  An off Election Day at that.  I very happily report that I casted the number 2 ballot at my poll (Freedom Temple Church) today.  I had been meaning to vote early, but it just slipped up on me.  The right to vote is something that I take so seriously.  Regardless of one's political affiliation, it is a right that was denied for many Americans for a great part of our nation's history, especially African-Americans and women. 

When President Obama was elected as our nation's Chief Executive Officer in 2008, two things happened.  (1) People showed up and voted in record numbers.  (2) Many democratic politicians were catapulted into office by being in the right party at the right time.  However, it is not party time in the United States, our economy is seemingly beyond repair.  One out of every ten people do not have jobs.  Budget cuts are threatening the qualility of education that is offered in both public and private schools.  The list goes on and on.

Although this is not an election for the presidency and gubernatoral seats, it is still a very important election. In fact, I deem it to be more important than the presidential and gubernatorial elections.  It all begins at home.  There are several mayoral and city council races across North Carolina today.  Even here in Raleigh, we have a mayoral race.  But the election that pulls to the very fiber of my being as an educator is the election of the members of the School Board.  There are five seats up in the Wake County School Board.  These are the people that make decisions based on how our future hope, the students of Wake County Public Schools will be educated. 

It is my prayer that everyone who is elected today will remember the people whom they have been called to represent and serve; and that the love of Christ will cross partisan lines and unify us.  In the words of Julia Sugarbaker, "Each day, I pray that those in power will get good sense and those with good sense will get power, and in the mean time Lord have mercy on us as we await the ones with good sense to come forward."

Peace,
Karsten