This Historic Day

I went to work as usual on This Historic Day, actually arriving just before the tutoring center opened. Up until 2 a.m. this morning after a 17-hour drive from Texas, I was surprised to make it to work on time. I took with me the small television my husband bought at Goodwill so that we could watch the evening news even while cooking, since we find ourselves in the kitchen too often during our favorite news hour. One of my colleagues and I set up the television in a corner of the lab; we didn't want to miss a minute of Barack Obama's inauguration. Most of the people I work with and most of the students on the campus where I tutor are African-American; it's been a real joy for me to witness what Barack Obama's presidency means to many of them. My supervisor called this morning to tell us she had made it to the Washington Mall, waiting for Obama's swearing-in as president; her voice sounded so happy, so in-the-moment. As the clock ticked toward noon, we turned up the sound on the television. While some students signed up to be tutored, and we could hear the murmuring of their voices in the background, others pulled up chairs to watch Barack Hussein Obama take the oath of office. We cheered afterwards.

How beautiful Michelle Obama looked standing beside her husband. How young those Obama girls are. How we hope the best for them and for us in the days and years ahead.

How proud I am of my son, who voted for the first time in this election and who participated in two Democratic caucuses in Texas. How I hope that his president, and mine, can help steer our country toward better days.

But, then, our recovery is not up to Barack Obama; it's up to all of us. As Obama delivered his inaugural address, I felt the thrill of being addressed as a citizen, not as a consumer; as a co-worker called to action, not as a shopper sent to the mall:

What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

Yeah.