While I knew that Inaugural Day was fast approaching, as great events usually come, quickly, especially when we know they’re coming, it wasn’t until the morning of the event that I found myself becoming invested. Living in the moment as I do, I had other things on my mind, such as a personal writing I was working on for my latest installment (not yet posted). Happy to put that aside for a while, I was delighted to find, when I turned on the TV in our office at 6:30 that I was becoming caught up in the euphoria of our great nation. I could feel and sense the joy of spirit emanating from the people gathering in Lincoln Square, coming individually into the collective body of something greater, giving me that sense that the peace we all desire might actually be delivered in our lifetime.
I was grateful for the camaraderie and commentary coming from the newscasters, as I listened in on their wisdom of world events, with hope in their voices and joy in their smiles, bantering with one another and happy to be a part of this great historic event. I enjoyed the footage of Barack Obama growing up as a child, coming full-circle into his purpose as an adult, even against the odds, as Katie Couric was realizing her purpose as a first-class world renown reporter. I felt as though we were all coming into our greater purpose as a whole-body of people, even if for the moment that only meant listening. I felt for the first time in a long time, overtly, that I was one with all those people on my television screen, as I know I am one with all people, everywhere. I felt hopeful and expectant of good changes to come that will benefit us all, like the winds of growth in an ever-expanding universe that can miraculously uplift us.
As I sat down to my computer to check my emails, I thought not so much about the mass of people swelling, but more of the thought that within that mass of people, standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the cold, supporting the common good of the brotherhood, (as I like to think of us) that there were hundreds of thousands of individual lives taking place, who had come together for this event on their own accord, purchasing tickets, making arrangements, packing luggage, and driving and flying into a Capital City of believers who wanted to be a part of something greater for humanity. All there now with separate and collective thoughts going on inside their heads, commingling with the thoughts of those, like me, who stayed at home to watch (or not watch) the events from inside our homes and offices, building in a collective energy of unity as we waited with baited breath to see and hear our next President, Barack Obama deliver his speech.
It felt as similar and familiar to me as when the collective body came together for the events such as the deaths of President Kennedy and Princess Diana, as we joined together for the space shuttle disaster, and for 9/11, as devastating as that was, it brought us together for the common purpose of our devotion to people, to reach out in times of need, for better or worse. Today, with this 44th inauguration, a most decidedly good event, it felt like we were coming home as a world-body of people living together in one world, with no nations being foreign to the next, only united, eye-witnessing, today, Barack Obama taking the reigns of our troubled nation with courage and dignity, to lead our country out of dangerous territory into higher ground with a new intelligence that could see this through.
Our 4-year-old Grandson, Desmond, with us for the big event, rose at 7:30 to the wonder of what was going on. Perplexed that the coffee table that belonged in the living room was now in the office with his games and puzzles piled up on the floor next to it, he asked me, “Why is the TV on, Grandma?” Before telling me that he couldn’t find me when he woke up, which is what he always says to me when he finds me in the morning at my computer. And then, with the sun streaming through the windows and the mood festive with my joviality and bouts of loving him up, big, I told him that today was an important day of getting a new president that could lead all people into the promised land of happiness. He seemed to take this with pride because it made me so happy. For a while we just sat on the love seat and watched and waited for the Obamas to exit Blair House into the fumes of their waiting car, with Desmond practicing saying “Barack Obama” over and over again until he got it right, going to tell Grandpa at 9:30 that Barack Obama was our new President, and that he should get up now and go in the hot tub so that he (Desmond) could throw “his people” toys into the water, which basically drives grandpa nuts, (he doesn’t do well with any sounds in the morning, but who wouldn’t have it any other way). We can always say that Desmond was with us when the torch was passed.
Later that evening, after John and I had tried to listen to Obama’s speech with Desmond refusing to be quiet, we gathered with friends to watch a rerun of the day’s events on CNN, talking afterward about Barack’s speech, which several didn’t think was his best. For me, who has heard so few of them because I don’t follow the news, I thought it was quite eloquent and rather fine, liking the fact that Obama was able to take us to a point of understanding what we face as a nation, and what we need to do as a people to see this through, which is what I needed to hear—the straight up version, instead of the flowery scene of playing it cautious. All in all, I am exceedingly pleased with the turn of events taking place in our nation (and our world) and feel optimistic about our future as a united species who will become the governing body of a new world order that works for the people, by the people in justice and in love.
