"Nothing happens in a Vacuum!"

The baseball scandal report by Senator Mitchell on the abuse/use of steroids was one of the most detailed reports I have ever heard. I was struck by a particular line Sen. Mitchell used to describe how this problem could have persisted unchecked for so long. He said,

"Nothing happens in a vacuum."

This statement gives credence to every situation that happens in our lives.
Nothing happens in and of itself.
It's always a sequential process of events that bring things to its present situation.
Regardless of what we are referring too.
So what am I getting at?
I recently heard someone say that African Americans don't owe the Clinton's anything. They were referring to the question of whether or not blacks should vote for Hillary instead of Obama. I say, "nothing happens in a vacuum!"
The African American has struggled for decades for equal rights and equality.
Anyone who has any sense of history realize that we did not struggle alone. We had friends all along the way.
It is amazing to me how we can forget those who reached across the racial divide to give us representation.
I feel that there is a certain amount of giving back that must be incorporated in our struggle to "overcome!" And we must remember that as those early civil rights leaders/marchers sang that song (we shall overcome) they incorporated the verse,

"Black and white together!"

I heard this summed up very well by the third Democratic candidate's wife, Elizabeth Edwards! She said on hardball that this campaign should not be about race or gender. "We" (referring to herself, other whites, women, and blacks) all marched in the sixties for equal rights and equality for all peoples.

"Nothing happens in a Vacuum!"

I believe she correctly makes the point that we cannot be guilty of doing the same thing we have been fighting against for all these years. Hillary and Obama, a woman and a black respectfully, would not have had the opportunity to even participate in the Presidential race if it had not been for civil rights fighters of the past. So it is hypocritical for Democrats to vote for these candidates based strictly on their race or gender.

As I said,

"Nothing happens in a vacuum!"

There is a sequence of events that take place which bring anything to it's present situation. I believe if we use this principle to evaluate these candidates, we will be in step with the mantra of our civil rights foundering fathers, not by race or gender "but by the content of their character."
So as we are continually astonished by Obama's eloquent speaking ability and the adding up of Hillary's abundance of experience, let us not fall prey to this present snap-shot.

Because when Obama talks about change, that change did not happen in a vacuum. And when Hillary talks about experience, that experience did not happen in a vacuum. Not only do we as voters must remember this but also these candidates must do the same.

I believe we all should take a note from a line in Sen. Mitchell's report,
"Nothing happens in the Vacuum!"