Marathon, Ellis Island, Reflection

So yesterday I witnessed my friend Jake run the Philadelphia Marathon and rock it out in 3hrs 30 minutes and 43 seconds! Go Jake! The amazing part was that he said that he was in pain on mile 15 and just kept pushing through. I don't know how he could do since the race was 26.2 miles! He definitely inspired me in my quest for better conditioning and health. Now I didn't say I was going to go run a marathon but it got me motivated to train for my 10k down the road.

Other than that, I went to Ellis Island in NYC and was very humbled by the experience. I looked at these immigrants trying to make it in America to have a better life and seek opportunity. Unfortunately many were sent back on a ship or separated from their family forever. There was one quote in which I will paraphrase that said "I waved goodbye to my family for the last time. It was like I was going to their funeral and realized I would never see them again." It made me think of how fortunate and blessed I am to have never gone through this. It is not to sound smug or anything but humbled by it all. There were pictures all around the museum of people waiting in line to hopefully be admitted into the country and in some cases rejected. There were racial signs that were very disturbing that said "No Asians allowed" and just some things I just can't write because they are so filled with hate and evil.

As I saw these signs I don't usually go into this discussion or even talk about the subject but I will. Whether you voted Mccain or for Obama the choice has been made. When seeing these hatred signs in the museum this weekend I saw signs of bigotry, hatred, and racism just to name a few. To tie it for the election I know there were many that did not like the result of November 4th. When you think about all that we have gone through in history, I think we need to give President Elect Obama a chance. I'm not saying that he was the most qualified or that he was most deserving but we have to stop our hatred because the election didn't go in our favor. Now that the decision has been made, let us all join together and pray not only for Obama, his cabinet, Senate, House, etc. but for this country we all know and love. We are suffering terribly and are divided. For we don't know what the future holds but we know who holds all our future tomorrows. In just retrospect we have come so far since the the first settlers with pilgrims and indians, from slavery to abolishing it, etc. Let us come together and pray that God would work in the lives of those now in power to restore this country to what it was meant to be.