teng time

This is one of my favorite photos of today.  It stirs a kind of quiet pride in me about someone or something I think we can all relate to.  It’s the way you looked up to your childhood hero.  No cynicism, no catch, no guard.  Just an easy willingness to wear your heart on your sleeve and revel in admiration.  Even though I am not that child anymore, this is how I feel today.  Even though I know better, I still feel this way.  Call me naive, tell me to take a number on the “hope” train, but that just makes it feel more amazing.

At first I thought this might be too personal to blog about since I have been trying to distinguish a line between professional and personal online (which can be a very slippery slope!).  And a political topic to boot.  But then I’ve never been one to adhere to the latest politically correct standards.  I really don’t care to meet any kind of standard set by any powers that be.  What I will strive to do here from this point on is to speak plainly and honestly, whatever topic it is.  There are enough time sinkers out there.

Today is the day I will remember forever.  There aren’t many of those.  The one where I will recount exactly what I was wearing.  What I ate for breakfast.  How I felt standing at work, watching the inauguration being projected onto a screen.  Whose historic magnitude I won’t fully know until I’m older, maybe much older.

But in our hearts we know.  You know if you’ve ever feared deportation or even internment.  You know if you’ve ever had to explain that you are American.  You know if you have ever had discrimination and prejudice erode your self worth.  You know if you have ever been treated like a second-class citizen.  Then you know the feeling.

Obama said in his speech, “This is the price and the promise of Citizenship.”

It is the most simple and complex emotion I’ve ever experienced.  To be a real, engaged American citizen.  To know what it is worth and how much it costs.  It is never easy.  It shouldn’t be because it should never be taken for granted.  I wish everyone to know this.  To really know this in their hearts.  And today I can actually say that MY President, knows this like I know this more than any other American President we’ve ever elected.  This is not a political or liberal thing.  This is a kind of unshakable human connection that shapes my American experience.

Aside from politics, the recession, global warming, the war, larger-than-life expectations and everything in between, today I am grateful to be reminded of the price and the promise of my citizenship and making me think about how I might be able to fulfill it.