Every year there are those lists that radio announcers will sometimes read. They usually come out around graduation time, sometimes earlier. The lists generally include a litany of things that this year's graduating class has never lived without. In recent years, these lists have included things like:
- they've never known a time without an answering machine.
- Walkmen have never existed. It's always been about the iPod.
- They don't know what a vinyl record is.
and so on...
This morning, while I was driving in to work and listening to the happenings around today's inauguration, it occurred to me.
Gracie and Luke will never know a time when an African American has not been president.
They'll learn about the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rosa Parks, but they won't understand why today is so momentous. They'll look back at this day in history class and say, "The 44th president was Barack Obama. He was the first African American President of the United States." But they won't get it. They won't understand the sweeping feeling of hope and excitement. They won't know how incredible today is.
Whether you are a democrat or a republican, you have to admit that this is an amazing day to be an American. I don't know what the next 4 or 8 years will bring. I don't know what history will say about President Obama's accomplishments or his failures.
But today, America gives a gift to our children. It give them the realization of our founding fathers' dreams.
What a wonderful, hopeful, joyous day!
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