http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27738018

I am a WASP and because I am the son of an independent fundamental premillinial country Baptist minister from the deep rural South I was once told I was the worst kind of WASP. I was on a flight from Atlanta to San Diego and my seatmate was a beautiful college student from UCLA and she was uncomfortable sitting next to me on that long flight. She was black and considered me one of her oppressors.

She was shocked when she saw that I was reading "Soul on Ice" and rather flabbergasted when I stated that the book expressed some good ideas. She thought I was taught by my parents to be prejudiced but I learned tolerance and understanding from from Geneva. a young and pretty black lady my parents hired to help around the house when Mom was hospitalized.

No, I didn't vote for Obama. I didn't vote for Gore or Kerry or Clinton and I most certainly didn't vote for Carter either. I could have voted for Hillary or Rice or Powell but they were not nominated.

Has Obama's election effected me personally? Yes, I believe it has. I believe the world has more respect for America now because other countries now believe that we can put aside prejudices and racial bigotry and if we can do that, maybe we can see others in a clearer light. I've always tried to do what is right and to treat everyone equally. But know, I think I go beyond that. I now have a respect and a pride in others as much for their differences as for our similarities.

I read a cartoon when I was young and the cartoonists printed the message that the three things people are most pround of-race, place, and face-are the three things we have the least control over. None of us can choose where we were born, what we look like, or what color our skin is.

I'm tired of the hate.