An opportunity to work together

To the editor:

"We are not red states or blue states but the United States." We have heard and seen this from the campaign trail to Cape Rock Drive. We live in a time when climate change and economic disruption threaten our future well-being while wars are being waged on two fronts. The claim that terrorists are around every corner confronts us every day.

Maybe we do not live in the happiest or most comfortable of times, but we can rejoice in one collective achievement: From all corners of the nation Americans have said "Enough!" to racial intolerance and racial bigotry. We have elected as president an articulate, intelligent, thoughtful man who just happens to be black.

In the years since I became a U.S. citizen, I have never been prouder to call myself American than I was on election night when the West Coast confirmed the result. I remain proud.

Although Barrack Obama's election by more than a couple of percentage points was convincing, he was not elected unanimously or by acclamation. Given the severity of the era, now is not time to waste this victory on acrimony, or for crowing and claiming a mandate, or for continuing the cultural divisiveness that was regrettably evident in the campaign.

Just as president-elect Obama and conceding Sen. John McCain stated in their own ways on election night, now is a time when we must overcome our differences, transcend old grievances and disagreements and reach out to one another to work together for the common good.

ALAN R.P. JOURNET, Cape Girardeau