.. sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
And I loved the original musical composition.
And of course I loved the speech. I am continually amazed at how Obama can put so much together and express himself so articulately. He covered so many important topics, and told us to get to work and still managed to inspire. It was amazing. "On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics." The thing is, I really believe that he means it. Amen!
And I loved the benediction. "We ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around — when yellow will be mellow — when the red man can get ahead, man — and when white will embrace what is right." Amen, again!
I will not forget today. It was one of those days that will be imprinted in my permanent memory. Usually those kind of days are the sad ones. I remember where I was when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded (in my mom's office, listening to the radio because a student came in yelling the news-- I was "home" sick from 5th grade), when the planes hit the twin towers (in the middle of the country, watching GMA and calling my mom to wish her happy birthday), but now I can add a happy memory. I was sitting with my closest grad school friends and colleagues, in the middle of the student center (the same place where we go for $1 beers to blow off steam on Fridays) feeling the energy and soaking up the joy. What a wonderful day.
So now it's time to get to work. President Obama said so.
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