I was born in 1948 in the coal mine region of Northeastern Pennsylvania. I grew up in the 50's and 60's and saw and heard a tremendous amount of ethnic and racial stereotyping. There were many ethnic groups, Irish, Polish, Jewish, Eastern European, almost every group you could imagine. They all had their individual stereotype for each other, but in the end they all got along. There were few African-Americans in this area at that time, but regardless of your ethnic affiliation, blacks were not well thought of. As a boy, I didn't think about it much. But as I got older, I began to question. My father was a total bigot and very verbal about it. My mother was a quieter bigot. I remember as a young boy at a lunch counter with my mother, we ordered sandwiches and after seeing a black woman make her sandwich, she would not eat it. It was obvious, she wasn't comfortable with black people, but she refrained from the more hurtful slurs. I came of age in the mid 60's, graduating high school in 1965. Even then, I saw my mother react when an African-American friend came to our home. She didn't say anything immediately, but later that day she expressed her discomfort.
I left the area 2 years later in 1967, moving to Maryland in the DC Metro area. I already knew there were many things wrong with the world and some aspects of my own country. I saw the racial strife and all the horrible things that were happening during the civil rights movement of the time. I was definitely aware of the anti war movement and I was aware of the women's rights struggle. I cared deeply about all these issues. I don't think I was naive, these issues were simple for me.
The war was wrong in my mind. I had friends for the war and against the war. I knew people who volunteered to enlist and I knew people drafted. I knew people who died there and I knew people returning with both physical and emotional scars. But I had my own feeling about the war. It was wrong, so I focused on the struggle to end the war, marching and demonstrating.
The civil rights struggle and the women's movement were easy for me as well. Everyone deserved equal rights under the law. Whether you were white, black, male or female. Everyone should be equal. Why should it matter if you were Irish-American, African-American, male or female. The answer to me was simple, it didn't matter and it shouldn't matter.
Those struggles, marches and demonstrations worked. People became aware, laws were enacted and changed. Things did get better. People believed they were changing the world and the fact is, we did.
But laws alone were not enough. It also took a generational change. We cared about more important things. We raised our children to care and to be more tolerant. Here we are today, some 40+ years later.
Look at what has taken place in this great country. Women have more than seriously been considered for the highest offices in our country. An African-American has been elected President for the first time in the history of our country. I am so happy to have seen this in my lifetime.
This is a great country! We are far from perfect and I'm sure we will never be perfect, but we can and we will continue this great experiment in Democracy.
Always think for yourself, always believe in what's right, always question authority, always speak out and always VOTE!
Congratulations Mr. President Elect!!
Congressman Joe Wilson, S.C. interrupting the President of the United States during a speech to a joint session and calling the President a liar. In my nearly 62 years, I never remember this ever happening. It's called respect for the office. I don't care what party you are from, you DO NOT disrespect the office of the President. Shame Mr Wilson.
Sarah 
