A letter to Jack on the day after the election...

Warning: The following is fairly political. Don't read if you have sensitivities in that regard...

Dear Jack,

This is an historic moment in the life of our country, and for me, it is somehow fitting that the first presidential election of your life turned out this way.

Even though I was told as a child that even I could be President of the United States, history seemed to prove otherwise. I can't tell you how moved and proud I am that history will never prove that to you.

But Election Day 2008 is bittersweet for me. We failed to fully affirm the promise that we're all created equal. On the same day that a majority of the citizens of California voted in our first black President, they also voted to deny basic human rights to a group of people who only want to be able to love one another. Please don't ask me to explain why, because I don't understand it.

However, I admit I am guilty of having been complacent, for not doing more to try to open the eyes of those who won't see that the passage of this measure is no more than bigotry in its basest form. But, Jack, I promise you that I will be complacent no more. I will fight for a state, country, world where you will be free to be and to love whomever you want. You deserve nothing less.

So, on this day after the election, I face the future with hope, some sadness, and a whole lot of determination. We have just elected an African-American to the highest office in our land, and yet racial segregation was legal in your father's lifetime. I look forward to the day that the fact that gay marriage was ever banned in your lifetime will sound just as unbelievable to your children.

These are the values I want to teach you - not necessarily in this order, and always bearing in mind that they are not mutually exclusive: Love yourself, love your country, love your neighbor

God bless America, and God bless you.

Love,

Your mommy