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The day I almost cried
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If I was one to display my internal emotional extremes, tears of joy may have been streaming down my face, but instead I celebrated inside with an outwardly noticeable emotionless expression. Perhaps a body language expert may have noticed a sense of pride.
The cool crisp inauguration day in Washington, DC radiated a type of warmth I had never felt before. I was amongst a throng of strangers; thousands of them, yet all of us stood together like we were familiar with each other’s thoughts at that moment. We were all here to listen to the newly sworn-in president speak before a crowd of estimated millions. I indeed felt proud and inspired and frankly surprised.
I remember as a child in a predominately white suburban town in Connecticut the generally homogenous make up of the society I was raised in. The government that created the laws of the land that governed me. My history books were filled with the presidents of America who were mostly white Anglo-Saxon men. I thought it would always be that way until I died.
My mind only changed last year when I truly believed that a guy with a darker skin pigment would truly have a chance. I’m not talking about a Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton chance, but a more cogent pre-Iraq war Colin Powell chance. After a protracted campaign battle, the junior senator from Illinois, Barack Obama, made his chances a reality. I watched him on a JumboTron from the base of the Washington Monument. He called America to stand united despite divisions that still occur in our nation.
“We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass…”
For everything that President Obama has overcome he still has a lot more to accomplish. Our country is in rough shape. The country is depending on him. Those who doubted if he was white enough, black enough, or experienced enough have now put those arguments behind them and remembered that we also have to act diligently to improve the state of the union.
“For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act-not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together.”
On inauguration day on January 20, 2009 like many have said, history was indeed made. But then again, isn’t it always being made? After the speech, I walked back to the White House in a tide of other people heading back home or to another location to watch the parade featuring the man of the hour or rather Time Magazine’s Person of the Year. Many had smiles on their faces radiating with accomplishment. They seemed to say, “Yes, we did.” I’m hoping that I can still find some of those same smiles in four years.
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