Inauguration Day

Today is actually the day after his inauguration as our 44th pressident, but I am feeling retrospective and thinking alot about what transpired yesterday. I hope many of you were able to take in at least some of it, but I sat in front of the television all day and watched. I actually got pretty choked up when he was introduced. I made Berit and Gus stand up with me, and I taught them how to put their right hand over their heart. Berit chanted "Barack Obama...Barack Obama" with the crowd, while Gussie said "Rock my mama".

Later, Berit and I had a discussion about the color of his skin. She asked me why they called him "black", when he looks brown. I said that is what we call people with brown skin. I told her that we are called white, even though our skin is pink (to which she said, "actually mom, sometimes it looks yellow). I then told her that even though his skin is brown he is the same as you and I. To which she replied...that no he is not the same, he has brown skin, and so he does not "look" the same. I told her she was right (again), but that he is still the same inside. That he loves us, and wants what is best for us. That he can hug, and kiss, and cry, and laugh the same that we can. And that he is our president, and he wants little kids to be nice to their parents (I had to add that for effect). I think she understood, because when she went to bed, she told me she was almost going to cry. I asked her why, and she said because "she loves Barack Obama so much". That made me want to cry, for about the 100th time that day.

Man...we have come a long way. Maybe my three year old daughter will never judge a person as being "worthy" by the color of their skin, but as the great MLK, Jr. said, by the "content of their character". And maybe, as the poet Elizabeth Alexander stated in her poem read yesterday, "love" is the strongest of all words.

And to take one quote of many from a historical speech given yesterday: "The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness".

What an awesome day yesterday was. Our parents had JFK and MLK, Jr. We have this.