The president of the United States of America is the highest elected office in our country. I travel all the way back to Richton Elementary School standing tall, proud beside my desk along with all the other little boys and girls with my hand over my heart reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

The importance of electing a president was instilled in us as a cost and a privilege of citizenship.

While some of us only hoped to get gold star stickers on our classwork for the day, others had bigger dreams for their future. Perhaps Mendy dreamed of becoming a lawyer like her father or maybe Kelly aspired to become a teacher like her mother.

Then there were always one or two who proclaimed, “When I grow up, I will be the president of the United States.”

It was a time when little boys were encouraged to aspire to such lofty heights, and little girls were more often directed to be nurses or secretaries.

There’s not a thing wrong with being a nurse or a secretary, but I admired then as I do now the girls who aspired beyond the paths laid out for them. Some might have just wanted to live in the White House or travel on planes to faraway places. I confess decorating the White House for Christmas appealed considerably to me at age seven.

What excites me now is that it’s no longer a fantasy for little girls to aspire to be president.

My 6-year-old niece, Arley Justine, would bring bright-eyed hopefulness to the Oval Office, and even her little sister, Everly Joy, could make our country stronger with the absolute will her mama calls stubbornness.

Then I think of my two teenage nieces, Hannah Claire and Emma Caroline. One exemplifies the integrity of her mother; the other, the confidence. Both inherited the honesty and determination of their grandmother. 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue would be lucky to house either of these leaders one day.

My eldest niece, Courtney Justine, demonstrates unsurpassed stamina to raise two children while expecting a third, lead the nurses working under her charge and take graduate classes to become a nurse practitioner.

Shelby Jade has a kind, compassionate heart for the welfare of any living thing, especially her adopted kittens. Kahlin Deason shows great courage every day by serving in the military, jumping out of planes and rearing her own child.

I salute these great American women.

I admire another strong woman, my sister, whose preschool students call her Miss Holly. Her faith in humanity, commitment to justice for all and purity of heart are precisely the qualities one would hope to recognize in Madame President.

Any one of these amazing women or millions of others would still be “the first,” and the beauty is that now any one of them could rewrite the pages of history.

Of course, those pages could be rewritten as soon as November.

David Creel is a Mississippi native and writes a syndicated column. You may reach him at beautifulwithdavid@gmail.com.