My family and I arrived in Butler in December 1949 after spending five years in a displaced-persons camp in Germany.

I was an 11-year-old boy with vivid memories of war-torn Europe and of our homeland, Latvia, which we had been forced to flee. Mine was a childhood full of uncertainty and fear.

In Butler, we found refuge, safety and opportunity. Our family was sponsored by St. Mark's Lutheran Church and by Eisler's Nurseries, where my father worked and where my brother and I worked as laborers on Saturdays and during our vacations.

My family felt fortunate to be resettled in the United States, where the will of the people was heard — and, with hard work, almost anything was possible.

I graduated from Butler High School in 1956. I attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittisburgh, and eventually earned a Ph.D. in physics, and am now a professor of electrical engineering. Thanks to this country, I am enjoying a good and productive life.

I love this country for the generosity it showed my family and me, and for the opportunity it has offered so many immigrants like us. I love the audacity of American optimism, the "think big" quality that helped this country put a man on the moon and accomplish so many other astounding technological feats.

I love the American spirit that says all things are doable if we work together.

I love this country, perhaps even more than those who were born here and maybe take it for granted. But, I also see more clearly this country's faults and problems.

These days, as I attend international scientific conferences and meet with colleagues from all parts of the world, I am ashamed and apologetic for my country: for the massive human tragedy caused by the misguided actions and ineptitude in Iraq, for the widening gulf between the rich and the poor, for the poor health care of so many of our hard-working, lower-income citizens, for the lack of respect for the dignity of work, and for the unhealthy lifestyle and diet that is poisoning the health of so many of us.

To me, Barack Obama represents the best hope for reversing these unfortunate trends and restoring American strength and leadership.

I urge my old friends in Butler to join me in supporting him. A man of intellect and steady temperament, he will help right our economy, restoring reasonable government regulation to protect individuals and families, while encouraging American entrepreneurial investment.

I believe Obama will be particularly effective because of who he is: a first-generation American. He will be the president of all of us—white, black and brown, newcomer and longtime citizen — and this is a source of his greatness, and the source of America's greatness.

It is easy to complain about what is wrong with this country. But I see Obama's candidacy as the opportunity to do something to help bring about meaningful change in the country I love.

I hope to continue to teach and do research, but inspired by the idea of Obama in the White House, I have made an inner promise to devote myself to improving and giving back to this country that I love.

I hope others will join me in voting for Obama and in rededicating our energies to this great land.

John Melngailis, Ph.D., is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics at the University of Maryland in College Park.