Wednesday, January 21, 2009

President Obama

Yesterday, I kept my son home from school to watch the Inauguration. It wasn't a snap decision ---- it's not like me to endorse a holiday from school ---- but I wanted to be sure that he watched the ceremony, that he heard the speech, and that he knew how important the day was.

Inaugural ceremonies in our democracy are always important; the peaceful transfer of power may be something that Americans take for granted but it cannot be taken for granted elsewhere in the world. And for that reason alone yesterday was special. But that's not why I wanted JT to watch Barack Obama in that moment that he went from Senator to President.

I wanted JT to watch that moment because I wanted him to be a part of the extraordinary promise that Obama's election fulfills. For a nation that once endorsed slavery based on skin color to choose a person of color for the highest office in the land doesn't mean that we've suddenly fixed our racial problems. But it is a giant step forward. So the election means that to me; it means that when I tell my son that what's inside us is what matters most I'm not proposing that he embrace a hollow idea. Instead, I'm passing on to him the inheritance of a nation getting ever closer to truly fulfilling what is still an extraordinary promise: all men are created equal.

1 comment:

Michelle said...

I, too, let M&M stay at home, with the compromise of going to school after his speech. I, on the other hand, left my kinders in the good hands of a former student teacher. Watching their teacher blubber would have just been too disconcerting, I'm sure..