A New Day

We have just finished watching the swearing in of the new President. What a momentous day. This young man is a source of inspiration to all of us -- not because of the color his skin, but because of his idealism.

His family is like our families. His oldest daughter brought her camera and took pictures during the ceremony. His brother-in-law wore his Oregon State scarf to show his pride.

My generation has seen such change (and, yes, saying that makes me old). When Alex and I were first married man had yet to go into space, electric typewriters were new and wonderful, you needed to be connected by a wire to speak on the telephone, we were in another millennium, and nobody would have thought an African American could be elected President. If you have watched Mad Men on television you have seen a very accurate depiction of life in the sixties. Things are certainly easier now, and better in many ways. In other ways they might not be. In President Obama's address he mentioned that we need to go back to the old values. Things like integrity, courage, patriotism are old, but we need to renew our commitment to those values.

He spoke of the ordinary people who built this country and of the fact that we need to have a society where they are valued -- where "not only the prosperous" count with politicians. We need repairmen, salesclerks, and waitresses every bit as much as we need CEOs. They are the rock upon which this country is built. I think he means it. I hope he means what he says.

President Obama and his family hold such promise for our country. May the powers that be in Washington, and Sacramento, and throughout the USA help him keep those promises. If they fail to do so, may the rest of us rise up when election time comes around and vote them out of office. May the people prove that that we have enough common sense to recognize the public good, not just the campaigns that money can buy. May he go down in history not just as the first black President, but as one who was able to lead the United States out of the dark days and renew our spirit of sharing, caring, and service.