Today makes me think of scripture that I often quote to my girls when I'm overwhelmed w/ happiness, "My cup runneth over."
In my lifetime, many of the historic moments have been days of sadness: the space shuttle Challenger explosion, Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the beginning of wars, the Oklahoma City bombing, 9/11, and the recent economic changes. Most of the positive historic days over the past 35 years have celebrated technological achievements rather than social or political, with the exception of the collapse of the Berlin Wall. Today is as great as that day.
On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence anointed the concept that was achieved nearly 233 years later, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Regardless of political passions, we've all won in this inauguration. We've won because freedom and equality are more than our ideals now, they're realities.
I curled up with Morgan this morning (my 7-year-old daughter) and was honored to pray with her for the protection of the Obama family, his cabinet, and for all of the people celebrating with them in Washington D.C. She asked why this was all such a big deal and even said (as she watched people surround the Washington Monument,) "It just looks like a bunch of people around a lighthouse to me." In order to help her understand, I turned on King, a program I recorded last night off of the History Channel. She watched as Martin Luther King Jr. led in the fight for equality. When I turned back to the CNN coverage of today, she said, "Mommy, I'm happy Mr. Obama is the first African American president. And you're going to be happy for me when all of those people come to see me become the first girl president." She's only 7, so she can't understand the enormity of what she saw. However, she understood enough to know that there are fewer restraints on our potential because the 44th President of the United States is someone who would have had to sit at the back of the bus 50 years ago.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Amen! I am thrilled Curtis got to see this moment. I am even happier I got to enjoy this with him.
When I was 4-5 yrs old we lived in Eastern Tennessee and I played with and formed my speech patterns with black share-cropper's children. When I was ten we took a trip to south Florida and I remember the signs in restaurants and gas stations "For Whites Only" and "For Colored Only". I didn't realize at the time what all that meant. It was only later in the 60"s that I began to understand what I saw in the 50's and experienced watching the Civil Rights movement unfold around us in the 60's. For a very long time after that (it has only been in the past 7-8 years) I I refused to say the complete Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. I just stopped speaking when we came to the part "liberty and justice for all", because it just wasn't the truth. A few years ago I began to say those words anyway with the prayer that someday It might actually be true. We aren't there yet, but I am hopeful and prayerful that we are well on our way to actually realizing it.
As Dr. King Jr. said "We ain't what we want to be, and we ain't what what we ought to be, but Thank God we ain't what we was."
It's hard to believe that anyone ever thought someone was more or less entitled based on race. It's even harder to believe that there are still people out there like that. They need our prayers too I guess.
Post a Comment