Tuesday, January 20, 2009

President Barack Obama

For the first time since John Kennedy, I feel happy and exuberant about being an American. Some cynical irritable part of me has dislodged and moved on like ice that outstayed its welcome breaking up in a river. Starting to feel a little freer now! Here is an excerpt from President Obama's first act in office -- a proclamation --

As I take the sacred oath of the highest office in the land, I am humbled by the responsibility placed upon my shoulders, renewed by the courage and decency of the American people, and fortified by my faith in an awesome God.

We are in the midst of a season of trial. Our Nation is being tested, and our people know great uncertainty. Yet the story of America is one of renewal in the face of adversity, reconciliation in a time of discord, and we know that there is a purpose for everything under heaven.

On this Inauguration Day, we are reminded that we are heirs to over two centuries of American democracy, and that this legacy is not simply a birthright -- it is a glorious burden. Now it falls to us to come together as a people to carry it forward once more.

So in the words of President Abraham Lincoln, let us remember that: "The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."

President Barack Obama, The White House Blog

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5 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 21, 2009 at 8:28 AM

    Amen brother!

    ReplyDelete
  2. friendsJanuary 21, 2009 at 9:14 AM

    I feel happy too! Yippee!
    I appreciate the global call to service. My favorite part of the address (paraphrased)-
    "Your people will judge you not by what you destroy but by what you build."
    Let's get going!
    treeesha

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJanuary 21, 2009 at 1:34 PM

    I remain hopeful. It has been so long.
    I can remember being about 4-years old, sitting at the kitchen table, watching my mother at the stove cooking or cleaning. I remember asking her who the man was on the radio. I sensed there was something wrong when she said it was a very bad man. She was upset.
    Early 1950s... McCarthy.
    Then the assasinations.
    Then the war.
    Then the neo-nutsies.
    And more war.
    I need to feel more of this fresh breeze.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJanuary 21, 2009 at 7:49 PM

    Relieved...elated...floating as if I were pounds lighter! Loving American ideals and beginning to believe they might yet be actualized.
    ~Stan

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousJanuary 21, 2009 at 11:21 PM

    the smaller the world becomes,
    the greater our humanity must be

    ReplyDelete

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