I have always been a skeptic. As a child, I doubted the existence of Santa Claus from the beginning. I disdainfully dismissed the possibility of a Tooth Fairy. And I knew that rabbits, even Easter Bunnies, could not lay eggs. So you would expect me to have reservations about the dawning of the Obama Era.

But today I refuse to doubt. Today I will gaze starry eyed at the slender black man with the magical smile and the promise of a new beginning in his voice. Today I believe.

Perhaps tomorrow will revive the old pessimism, the need to pull back the curtain and look for the hidden wires that manipulate the magic show. But not today.

Today I will watch the ocean of joyful faces on television and hear the myriad voices ring with hope and love. Today I will be the child I never was. Today I believe that Obama can change this crummy world and replace selfishness, greed and bigotry with neighborly love and the will to be better human beings.

And I pray for Divine Guidance in his heroic quest.