You Are Here

Today Barack Obama gave millions of Americans hope that the future will be brighter. I watched the inauguration, admittedly the first one I've ever watched on purpose. I enjoyed the tradition of it all, watching the old and new together, going through the motions of handing over the reigns. I watched Mrs. Bush graciously moving throughout the ceremony and Mrs. Obama not quite sure where to go at times. It will be interesting to watch her at the end of the presidency as the graceful one. My favorite moment of the swearing in came after President Obama finished his oath. You could see the new president's wife exhale, then smile. They had reached their goal. They were there.

Next came the President's speech. He spoke of America, all of us, helping to make this nation better... working with each other instead of against... doing what we can to help make things better... in our communities and in our world.

"Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America. For everywhere we look, there is work to be done."

It wasn't a "don't worry I'm going to fix everything" speech, it was more like "this sucks and we all have to work to fix it" speech, but it was inspiring.

All of this excitement and patriotism makes me want to pay attention, to do something, to get involved and become a better (or even greener) person. As a parent I think that's an important value that I need to share more with Kaeleigh. You can't just sit back and hope things turn out for the best, you have to try and change things, try and make a difference, even if it's a small one. You are here.


*Blog title #63 from 100 Blog Topics I Hope You Write. This weeks blog-a-thon will be using suggested topics from that site. Don't forget to check out Jennifer's blog here.