My Favorite Parts

Today was such an incredible day--and an emotional one. I was so excited to watch the inauguration and, most of all, to watch it with my children. They asked questions and we discussed. They watched and really listened. What an incredible day. What an incredible country. What an incredible change.

I was so moved by each piece of the inauguration, from the beautiful composition (including YoYo Ma) to Aretha Franklin to President Obama to the millions of people who had come to watch. It was incredible.

Some of my favorite parts were:

From President Obama's speech (we went to see him speak when he came to Fort Collins prior to the election--amazing public speaker. AMAZING.):

"Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. 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. "

From the benediction given by Rev. Joseph Lowery (who was a key civil rights figure who worked along with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.):

"For we know that, Lord, you are able and you're willing to work through faithful leadership to restore stability, mend our brokenness, heal our wounds, and deliver us from the exploitation of the poor, of the least of these, and from favoritism toward the rich, the elite of these.
We thank you for the empowering of thy servant, our 44th president, to inspire our nation to believe that yes we can work together to achieve a more perfect union."

And from the inaugural poem, Praise Song for Day, A Poem for Barack Obama's Presidential Inauguration, written and read by Prof. Elizabeth Alexander (a friend and former coworker of Pres. Obama who now teaches at Yale):

Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day. Praise song for every hand-lettered sign; The figuring it out at kitchen tables.
Some live by "Love thy neighbor as thy self."
Others by first do no harm, or take no more than you need.
What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance.
In today's sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.
On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp -- praise song for walking forward in that light.

It made me want to echo the signs that were posted all over the north side of town (where we live) and throughout our neighborhood for so many months, "Si se puede!"