President-elect Obama has asked us all to step up to the plate and do something to make this world a better place. He asked us that today, on the Martin Luther King holiday, that we volunteer to do something useful for our community and country. With a mild and appreciated nudge from my wife Petra, we volunteered to work the morning at raft, a local non-profit group that provides very low cost materials for teachers. Check out their web site here.

We helped cut stickers for material packs for teachers. A menial task, sure, but helpful to teachers. And teachers are one of the most useful and underappreciated groups in our country. We can only be great if our people make intelligent choices. The smarter our young people become, the better our country will become.

Another way to serve: Treat your fellow human beings with respect and caring. Make sure that everyone has equal rights and equal opportunity. We can only be a good as the way we treat our weakest and poorest. When you raise their level, everyone above it becomes better too. We are a country for ALL the people. As the richest country on earth we can and should include everyone.