A Lot to be Happy About

We as a country have a lot to be happy about with the inauguration of our new president. It just dawned on me today that it's about so much more than "our side won" or "a really good candidate got elected" or "thank God the last eight years are over." It's a single event that marks the intersection of so many great things - a great need for change, a shift in our own identity as a country, the advancement of civil rights, domestic race relations, a new foreign policy, and I believe heartfelt willingness of Americans to make a long term commitment to reconsider our values and dreams.

There seems to be a lot of hope resting on the shoulders of Barack Obama. He's become a nearly messianic icon that people have so much hope for. This troubles some people, worrying that no man can live up to such expectation, and that the dreams so many have will crumble and fade. But I believe there is more than that. I think Obama is the man for the job - I think he's honorable, talented, remarkable in many ways. But what rallies our hopes and imaginations is in the intersection of history, our needs and our lives, with the life of the man we elected.

What I'm saying is that we have not only a lot to be happy about, but we also have a lot to be proud of. That the barriers of race are not as impassible as we would have thought not many years ago, that progressive, new ideas about foreign and domestic policy can be considered, that school children, relatives, artists and great leaders can engage in civil discourse, and be gracious in victory and honorable in defeat. There's really a lot going on, and every one of us is part of it.

That's what I'm so happy about - I don't feel the least bit inclined to ride the wave of euphoria to a crashing dissappointment, or to pin my hopes on the shoulders of a single mortal man, though I admire him. During the election, I was amazed at the frankness of our discussions, and the transparency with which we dealt with our faults and vulnerabilities.

I'm proud then, to be where I am now, and when I am now.