Welcome Mr. President

Having been inundated with inauguration coverage for what seems like forever, I've noticed how many people have so freely expressed their feelings about the historic event. I guess I'm finally ready to come clean...

Really, up until President Obama's Inaugural address, even through the swearing in and Mama Aretha and her hat, pretty much every positive feeling I had about the inauguration was counterbalanced by a not so positive feeling. I feel moved by the magnitude of the event. As a history teacher, I have read numerous primary source documents (first hand accounts) of African-Americans suffering through the Middle passage, slavery itself, black codes during Reconstruction, sharecropping, grandfather clauses and the list goes on. Often times when I read these accounts and study them with my students, I literally feel sick thinking about how many Christians and other "good" people simply tolerated if not perpetuated such widespread abuses of other, God-breathed, human beings. And then, I think about the fact that President Obama is biracial. He in fact, is only partially black. His father was not an American. He was African. His ancestors did not suffer through American slavery and the discrimination that has existed in our country against African-Americans. Why do so many people uphold him as an example of overcoming decades-old prejudice when his family experience was not a part of those decades?

I also feel really hopeful thinking about Americans becoming excited about government. Again, because I teach high school students, I know how hard it is to relate government to their everyday lives. However, this feeling fades pretty quickly too and turns into skepticism. Why are the people who voted for the first time in their life, because they supported Obama, just now becoming involved? Honestly, there is no valid excuse in my book. More affected lately by the economy? Someone is always on the short end of the stick. Why aren't we concerned with the less fortunate when we aren't them? Tired of the War in Iraq? Newsflash: politicians need supervision and endorsements regardless of the issue they support. How else do they know that they're out of line or on the right track? Didn't like previous candidates? WRITE IN YOUR CHOICE! Allowing yourself to be silenced after blood has been shed so you can exercise your voice is despicable.

I could go on and on. Really I'm just trying to illustrate that although I thought a lot of things about today were good, I also was discouraged about a good bit.

Then President Obama gave his Inaugural Address. I know he didn't write most of what he said. They never do. But, the words were written to reflect his ideals and values. He said them. He stood on the platform and accepted the challenge in front of him. I honestly felt that his words were genuine and deliberate. A lot of things he said resonated with me. Some things he said made me scratch my head. But I will never forget these words: "What is demanded then is a return to these truths. 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. This is the price and the promise of citizenship."

My duties are defined by my obligations as a child of God. How do you define your duties to your neighbor and your country? I hope we will all consciously think about what are duties are as American citizens. As the saying goes, many hands make light work. If we all accept our self-defined or divinely-inspired duties, how changed would our communities be? How changed would our country be? I'd love to see the answers to these questions.