A couple of days before the election I drove my Silverado pick-up into the Ramsey Street Post Office parking lot to drop off a few letters. Fayetteville, for those who don't know, is home to Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base.  It is known, with some justification, as "The City of Heroes."

While I was walking back to the truck after depositing my letters, a spry and elegantly dress African American woman in her early 60s approach me.

"Young man," she announced.  "Are you really a Marine for McCain?"  I replied, "Yes I am and I suppose that you are an African American for Obama."

She looked at me and we chuckled at each other.  "Why would an intelligent person vote for McCain?" she inquired.

That is a fair question.  There were lots of reasons to be for McCain and many to be for Obama.  "I like McCain because we are brothers," I explained.  "We served in Vietnam and I met McCain when he was a Navy Liaison attached to the U.S. Senate.  For me, there is a bound that is think as blood."

A few minutes later, a second African American female, a doctor at Womack, joined the discussion.

"Obama brings a lot of people hope," I was told. "These are folks who never had hope, people who didn't have a stake in the system. Obama represents an opportunity to change the status quo."

What was clear is that there are a lot of reasons why people choose one candidate over another.  For the three of us, history was important.  For me, I trust McCain because I have a sense of what he has been through.  He endured a lot in the service of his country, something that should make us proud. I know in my heart that he can reach down inside of his guts and make the right decision.  Yet these women spoke sincerely about the promised of hope that Obama represented to disenfranchised people.

How could I respond to two women who were sensing a chance of a lifetime?  How does one measure hope in tax dollars collected and distributed?  How can these candidates, so obviously different, appeal to and serve all the people?  Indeed, how can either Obama or McCain overcome tradition and find a common ground for all the people?

I knew that my new friends were passionate in what they believed.  In listening to them, I felt proud that I had served in the Marine Corps and that I was a very small but integral part of the reason that we are a free people with different ideas.  In fact, all three of us are veterans—Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps.  Maybe we sensed that we shared something that was vital and crucial to this great country.

These women should give us an insight into the American spirit, irrespective of who gets the most votes. 

After a few minutes, I asked the two women if we could join hands and pray.  There we were, in the parking lot of the Fayetteville Post Office, strangers but united in a love of country that is immeasurable, offering prayer to a God we share.

I prayed, "Lord, lead us to be one nation. Help us find a new greatness in serving you.  Help us overcome our divisions and find a unity of spirit that will give us strengthen to meet our challenges.  Make us one, Lord, make us one."

In driving out of the parking lot, I felt that we had a sense of participation in the political process that is the glue for this great country.  I felt blessed beyond my imagination.  I liked that.