Already fading in the news, John McCain’s hesitation in answering just how many homes he and his wife own gave Joe Biden and Barack Obama a chance to make inroads with American voters who dream of owning just one home.

I am one of those Americans.

My father bought our house on that gravel road, in rural southern Michigan, for twenty-five thousand dollars. I was a just a kid at the time we moved in, and I remember running from room to room shouting into empty closets and up at ceilings that seemed enormously beyond my reach as my voice echoed off the walls. This was our house, no more renting, it was ours. The inroads attempted by Barack Obama and Joe Biden caused me to pause and think, quite literally, of the road that I have traveled from that house to this apartment. The road is in fact in me.

One of the single greatest thoughts, occupying many pensive moments every day, is how I will afford a home for my son and myself. Where will we live? Many who have homes have the same thought as the prospect of losing their house becomes real. In this apartment complex there are many who can’t think beyond making this months’ rent. Several I have spoken with have lived here for decades and have no hope to ever owning a home. Decades. It seems unreal.

I don’t believe either presidential candidate will deliver the type of change I hope for. I don’t think a President McCain can move this country decidedly toward energy independence or that a President Obama will be successful in truly recalibrating the tax burden to more equitably shift a higher tax on those who are positioned in our society to best afford it. I don’t believe, but I do hope.

I hope for integrity and strength of conviction in our political leaders to believe in the ingenuity of American leadership. I hope for the woman or man who will see the need for dynamic change in energy production and consumption in the United States to be tantamount with the need for security on our borders, at our ports and in our skies. I hope for leadership politically at all levels to point directly at debt - both personal and national - as a crushing burden that will cause this great nation to bend and bow to stronger economic powers overseas if nothing is done to reverse and reduce our obligations. That means you, that means me, that means government consisting of those we elect to serve. I hope for someone, many, to have the audacity to look down at our waistlines, and those of our children, and say “this is wrong, this is not excusable or acceptable, and we must change.”

I hope for these things, and so much more.

I’m no critic. I enjoy going to baseball games, and football games, and don’t really care who wins. I don’t follow sports in the press or watch games on television. For me, it’s about being there. It’s something to do. I enjoy a hotdog and a cold beer under the sun while a baseball game plays out in front of me. To go out, get beyond the same familiar walls and enjoy life is what is it’s all about. I enjoy movies for many of the same reasons.

Substitute popcorn and a soda and theater seating for bleachers and I am going to have a good time. Yesterday I took my son to see “Spider-Man 3.” I’ve heard critics on National Public Radio, Fox and in online print gauge the movie compared to the first two Spider-Man movies, or compare the flick to other action films, and serve up a dry and dismall appraisal of the latest Marvel character on the big screen. I don’t know.

As Ayezeyah and I walked into the theater, a few inset lights guiding the way up the carpeted stairs, my excitement grew at the same pace as his - an itchy anxiety coursing from his small hand into mine and back again - and we flashed grins at each other. Although it was a Sunday morning showtime the theater was packed. We edged and bumped our way past knees and tubs of popcorn to settle into two seats near the middle of the darkened theater. The lights dimmed, the screen shined, and we settled in for the next few hours with Spidy and cast for an absolutely wonderful time.

As the last scene faded and the credits began to roll applause rippled through the seats from people we had shared the past few hours with. Ayezeyah asked to see it again. It was a good time, and, a good movie. Comedian Billy Connolly said that critics are looking the wrong way. Instead of looking at the screen and sifting through their own sentiments, they should be looking at the people who are watching the film. Watch the watchers. Critics don’t make people enjoy a film or even force ticket buyers to have a miserable time if the show wasn’t what they anticipated. Critics simply, well, critique. And, they don’t do it very well. Perhaps they should lighten up, loosen up, and take a child to a movie. That’s really what it’s all about anyway, and don’t forget the popcorn.

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