I have a slightly different view of today's place in history, as you see, I am related to both George W. Bush and Barack Obama. To both I am eighth cousin.
As you can imagine, I didn't discuss my connection to George through his great-grandmother, Lucretia Wear, much as folks distantly related to Hitler and Mussolini didn't 'brag'. As disgusting and obscene as I felt concerning George's treatment of the Constitution as a citizen, just imagine how it felt knowing that this was a family member who was using our civil rights as toilet paper. As George's helicopter flew off, I was reminded of an old song, 'Thank God and Greyhound You're Gone'.
But then, there was Barack. After being told for eight years that 'No we can't because we are too afraid, Barack told us in a clear and strong voice that 'Yes, we can!'
George lied to us, cheated us, humiliated us and treated us as though we were too stupid to know he was even going it. Barack gives us not only the respect we deserve, he treats us with the knowledge that we are intelligent and can participate in the rebuilding. Barack was the cousin when you were a kid that didn't talk down to you and treated you as an adult. It's refreshing. Oh, and my genealogical connection - I have the honor to be related to BOTH his maternal grandparents.
While I would have loved to have been there, Barack called us to service and I took him at his word and chose to watch him take the oath of office on our computer at work as we did vocational assessments on disabled high school students. Tears started flowing from Aretha and didn't stop until the last prayer. I felt pride, amazement, hope and the most profound patriotism. I offered thanks to those who paid the price and paved the way and shed a tear for those who stood by his side if only in spirit.
At the end of Barack's address he stated:
So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:
"Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet (it)."
With that Barack has gave us our role: We are the 21st century Valley Forge who have already suffered depravation and know that more is coming. But we also know that at last we have a Commander in Chief who will lead by example. We will stand shoulder to shoulder and we will be victorious.
He also told his fellow countrymen, the citizens of the world and the Bush regime that:
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers ... our found fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all the other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.
In other words, law, order, ideals and morality are back.
Today for the first time in a long time I stand proud of my President, my country and my family.