AFFIRMATION

Today was the 57th Presidential Inauguration and the second for Barack Hussein Obama, the 44th President of the United States. This Inauguration was not as well-attended as his first one in 2009. However, this Inauguration felt bigger and more important because it represented the affirmation by the American people of the first President of color - a man who has been forced to endure endless attacks for the past 5 years.

We can ponder the question of why one would want to continue in such a position amidst such rancor and partisan divide another day. Today was about how this nation's vision and its course have been irrevocably changed by this singular man - President Obama - and the countless Americans who believed in him.

I remember when I first saw Barack Obama in 2004 in Boston on that summer night. I was in our basement in Baltimore watching the Democratic Convention when they announced the next speaker - a young State Senator from Illinois. His speech was a mere 18 minutes. However, in that keynote, Senator Obama reminded us how we are all tied together in this fabric called America. He reminded us that we Americans have more similarities than differences. He reminded us that what binds us is not government or corporations... but ourselves and our communities.

During that speech, his words moved me to forget who was delivering the message, how he looked, and what his name was. So resonant was that message, that I thought the speaker was speaking only to me. At the conclusion of that short speech, that I knew that this man would be President one day. Did I think it would happen four years later? No, try 20 years later. However, sometimes the arc of history bends a little more quickly than it did before. These are the times that we find ourselves in. This is the moment we find ourselves in.

Movements come and go. Presidents come and go. What remains, however, what endures in our spirits are these moments. Moments when that which we thought impossible becomes possible, when the future looks brighter than the past, when our world seems a little more light than dark, more hopeful rather than pessimistic.

Let us savor this moment, but let us also seize it! As President Obama said today, we will be judged by history by how we treated the least among us. We are a nation of doers not takers! We have a lot of work to do. We face great problems.  However, this man, this President is up to that task.  Let us each affirm our faith in him by doing all we can do to keep moving Forward because we are all in this together.