Proud to be an American. The price is worth it.

Tomorrow, January 20, is a day that makes me truly proud to be an American. No, this is not another gushing review of President-elect Barack Obama. No, this is not another notification to the world that we will swear in the first African-American President. No, the day marks one of the things that makes this country truly great. The peaceful transition of power from one elected official to the next - I could not be more proud of this legacy that our country leaves to the world.

If you have read any of my posts on the election you can see that I am no fan of our future President. I disagree with virtually everything he campaigned for on the basis of ideology alone - I make no judgement on the man himself as I do not know him. That being said - beginning tomorrow he will be my President and I will stand behind him, if called to do so. Elections have consequences but as a citizen of this country, I have a responsibility to support and defend her and that starts with support for our president. I have not been a big fan of the political leaders in our country over the past several years but as a citizen - I do support them. I also support the citizens of this country by voicing my opinion (even though I do not do it as often as I should).

President Bush will not go down as my favorite President but he will be remembered, by me, as a man of character and as a selfless man that did for the world what he believed he was called to do. Any person that stands on principle, regardless the cost, is a man worth remembering and modeling (atleast a small amount) in your own life.

I used to speak to high school kids about succeeding in life and one portion of the talk was about 'who is the most successful person you can think of'. The idea of the talk is to define success in your terms and not be trapped in to the traditional view of success. As the kids would throw out all the big names that you expect (Gates, James, Jordan, Manning, Woods) they would eventually start calling out parents, brothers, clergy .... The point of having them call out names was to prove that there is no one definition of success. President George W. Bush is one of those people that I would bring to their attention today. He is a man that, on principle, took on the world. Ridiculed at home. Despised around the world. He stood on principle that those with the ability to affect change, have the responsibility to do so. THANK YOU Mr. President for your service.

To our soon-to-be President. I wish you well and I offer you my support. I will stand and defend you and our country. I will support you both by defending and disagreeing with you. I only hope that others will do the same.