I write this letter the day of the election. It's early, and I don't know what the results will be. But I felt compelled to write this to the CSRA community because my heart is very heavy.

During a discussion in my 7-year-old son's classroom, the issue of the election came up. The teacher allowed the children to share ideas, as should be allowed in this free country of ours. What pains me is that one of the little girls in the class announced to the entire class that her parents would not be voting for Barack Obama because her mother said that "we have never had a black president, and it would be too weird to have one."

While I am not naÃve enough to think that this wasn't one of the most divisive political races in our history, I do think that parents of young children should have more tact and common sense than to express such biased and negative views in their presence.

I am trying to teach my own children to judge others on the content of their character and not simply what color one's skin happens to be.

I hope that educated and enlightened parents will do the same, so that when a woman becomes president, a Chinese-American, a Hispanic, or any other "minority," it won't be quite so "weird."

Voltrina Williams-Hawes, Grovetown