Are you excited by the choice of Sarah Palin for VP?. Consider the following story.

It was a time of trouble, and there was great anxiety throughout the Kingdom. The Dark Knight, a newcomer of unknown parentage who was rumored to be from a foreign land, had infiltrated one of the two great Castles of the Kingdom, the Blue Castle where the Blue Queen reigned. There he charmed and won over the court and the people with his good looks and eloquent speech, promising them gifts as numerous as the sand on the seashore should they make him King. “Is he the One?” some whispered. “He certainly acts like a King,” was the reply. With great cunning and deception he convinced the people of the Blue Castle to help him remove the Blue Queen from the throne, which they proceeded to do without a drop of blood being shed. But the Dark Knight, having captured the Blue Castle, now had plans to conquer the entire Kingdom. With great entertainment, fireworks, and spectacle he gathered those over whom he had cast his spell and began his campaign.

All that stood between him and mastery over the entire Kingdom was the Good Knight John and the people of the second great Castle in the Kingdom, the Red Castle. The Good Knight was an old warrior who had fought for the Kingdom long ago. He had been held several years as a captive in a foreign country, where he had been tortured on the rack and subjected to many cruel mistreatments. When he finally was released and allowed to return to his country, he served for many years as a Knight in the Court of the Old King.

Good Knight John recognized the lies and deceptions of the Dark Knight and he vowed to stand firmly against him. But the Dark Knight had grown powerful, and held the Blue Court in a hypnotic trance. There was a dire air cast over the land. The Good Knight prepared to do battle, but the infirmities of age had come upon him, and the people of the Red Castle were wondering if he could prevail. Could he defeat the Dark Knight and save the Kingdom? There was great anxiety in the court. “What was to be done?” they asked. The Good Knight John was in need of a champion, someone to stand with him in battle, someone of courage, someone who could inspire. So Good John, old and tired as he was, embarked on a quest for a champion meet for him. Months passed, as he traveled from one region of the Kingdom to another, meeting the great men of each castle and dukedom and testing their wisdom and their strength. But still he did not find a champion meet for him. And then one day, as if a vision had entered his dreams the night before, Good John met a young Princess ruling over a little known castle in the most distant part of the Kingdom, far to the north in the region of snow and ice. She was a warrior Princess who had stepped forward and fought for justice and become the leader of her people. And Good John asked her to be his Champion against the Dark Knight, and with great courage and inner strength she accompanied him to the Red Castle, stood before the court and people, and agreed to be John’s Champion. As if pulling a sword from a stone, she entered the arena of battle. There was a cry of joy! The people of the Red Castle had found a Champion, a Warrior-Princess, and they followed her to march behind the Good Knight John as they began the fight of their lives for the preservation of the Kingdom.

What a story! It does not matter that it might not be true. What matters is that it COULD be true, and that is exciting! How the story ends depends much on how we believe it will end. It really is something to hope for. It really is something to believe in. And it really can lead to change.