Once, in 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream.

45 years later, it moves closer to reality.

We stand in a present where a possible future is that our first black president, Barack Obama, brings tremendous change to society.

This is not a political endorsement, just something to think about.

Imagine that exactly one year and two days from now, Obama is sworn into the chair President Bush has warmed since 2000. This would be a symbol of social change, a symbol that the nation has moved a step beyond prejudice toward a greater humanity.

Many of us claim we are not voting based on his race. Instead, it’s his charming demeanor, intelligent remarks, thoughts on policy or the fact that, unlike most politicians, he makes sense when he talks.

Yet the reality is that those with a spirit of equality in their hearts cannot deny that part of us secretly roots for him because he is potentially the first black president.

This possible future where Obama takes the presidential oath would be a moment where King’s prophetic dream reaches fulfillment. The beauty of Obama’s character is that he represents the whole spectrum: black to white, rich to poor.

His victory would fulfill King’s words: “Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.” On the international level, America would finally share brotherhood with the greater part of the globe: We would finally have a non-white leader.

This would alter worldwide opinions of America; in case you didn’t know, a good percentage of the world is some shade of brown, whether in Pakistan, Peru or Palau. The NAACP also defines racial harmony beyond the limited paradigm of just black or white; think about what the letters of its name mean.

We would be brothers with countries where non-white leaders led massive democratic reform. South Africa ended apartheid with the help of Nelson Mandela. Bolivia recently began reforming the constitution with the help of indigenous president Evo Morales, who hopes to transform Bolivia’s 90 percent non-white lower caste into equals.

President Obama may not join them in creating structural change, but he would get respect from a world of people who have long felt oppressed by the legacy of colonialism and that American policy makers do not understand them.

This wish for equality is what makes Obama so dynamic. On a deeper level, we want him to win because he understands us. No matter who you are, he understands my people, your people and their people. His cultural sensitivity proclaims us equals, fulfilling King’s dream to “make justice a reality for all of God’s children.”

Of course, reality is never as magical as we wish, but if Obama were to win, society would be redefined, and those who have hungered and thirsted for equality, as King once did, would be satisfied.