November 2008 has been an historic month in the Glenn house as well as in the United States of America. Mary went on her first international trip with Doug. It was not Doug's first time to travel internationally, but it was his first time in Brazil. If you look back a few blogs, you'll meet Udo and Liduina Fiorini. Doug and Mary went to Brazil (from 11/10-18) to visit with the Fiorini's and do a little business. The kids had a wonderful time with Grandpa and Grandma Glenn and Doug and Mary are SO thankful for grandparents who can do long-term child-watching. Can't thank you enough Mom and Dad!!
November also saw the election of our first black/African-American/negro president. It was truly an historic event and in many ways something to be celebrated.
No doubt there are hundreds of reasons to vote for Barack Obama, but there is one particular reason that we talked about recently here in the family which is worth commenting on.
I've heard that many people voted for Mr. Obama because he was black. By doing so, many of them felt they were fighting against discrimination. "I'll vote for Obama because he is a black man. I'll show that America no longer discriminates on the basis of skin color."
Discrimination is when a person makes a decision based on unjustifiable reasons. For example, most everyone would admit that a woman and a man could be airline reservation agents equally well and they'd further agree that choosing the man over the woman (or visa versa) because he was a man would be sexist and discriminatory. Their gender has nothing to do with how well they could take airline reservations. Choosing a paperboy because he is Italian and not Chinese would discriminate against the Chinese boy because the boys' nationality has nothing to do with how well he could deliver papers. Firing a 50-something man to sell insurance and hiring a 20-something man for the same pay to do the same job would obviously be discrimination because their ages have nothing to do with how well they can sell insurance.
Making a decision based on criteria that is unrelated to the situation is the epitome of discrimination.
That's why it is so ironic that those people voting for Barack Obama "because he is a black man" are committing the very "crime" they so detest. Does Mr. Obama's skin color have anything to do with how well he can perform the job? No. Does the fact that Mr. Obama is an African-American somehow make him more qualified than a white man? No. Does the fact that Mr. Obama is a negro have anything to do with whether or not he will be a better president than a non-negro president? No.
These well-intentioned voters thought they were doing a good thing by voting for a black man. But if they did it simply because he was black, they are guilty of the very crime they so hate.
