Beaded Moments

Today at 11:30, several fellow students and I crowded into a professor's office to watch the inauguration. He had kindly set up chairs and passed out oranges, perhaps recognizing that we might be skipping lunch in order to witness this historic event. In front of a rather large tv that was pulling its coverage out of the air, we crouched and cried, overwhelmed by the significance.

I think what expands the magnitude of this event is not just the gratitude for the shattering of a racial barrier; it's also the wonder at the collective breathing of a nation. So many people are joined together in hopefulness. While I don't think that one man can be The Solution or that our nation will be Quickly Fixed, I do marvel at the unity among the American public. It's an enormous sense of common purpose, enthusiasm, and connection that I don't think I've seen ever before in my lifetime. Truly incredible.

This is probably one of those moments that will remain stamped in my memory - where precisely I was, who was around me, what I was tasting and thinking and feeling when President Obama was sworn into office. I would guess that many others feel the same way, which is what makes me think of "Beaded Moments". Each of our experiences was different, yet we are linked, juxtaposed with each other, along this common cord and common chord of the 44th President's inauguration.

So where were you during the inauguration?

~Hope