Appearing Presidential, proper etiquette, unifying decency, and a role model, are all attributes desired in the office of the Presidency.  There was a time during my childhood where etiquette was taught — etiquettes, such as table manners, no elbows on the table, a proper greeting from person to person, youth to elders, etc. which included the precursor of sir or ma’am. In male-to-female contact, a man would never extend his hand to a woman unless she offered hers first. In total, it was instilled in me by a humble but strong woman; to never disrespect my elders or a lady. That woman was my mother.

Nonetheless, during those same years of cordial communications, I was conflicted, observing what seemed to be proper etiquette, whereas a mature black man could be called a boy by a white child. Residue from those social standards prevails to this day in those same children.  Children, who are now grown with grandchildren, reverberating by code those same beliefs -beliefs that die a slow death. In the Wake of it all and metaphorically speaking like “Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing, only a signal shown, and a distant voice in the darkness; So, on the ocean of life, we pass and speak one another, only a look, a voice, then darkness and a silence.”  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow