The 5:23 Post
21 January 2009
Today it arrived. The man swore on The Good Book before 1.5 million joyful souls, their hearts warming one another with not a frown to be found in the midst of well below freezing air. I watched a TV in California, tears welling… tears streaming, voice quaking every time I tried to comment on the moments as they unfolded in sound and scene. He IS the man of this hour. Never in my 37 years aboard this ride of life have I heard such truth. Such courage. Such wisdom, candor, humility… The spirit within us all seems to be reflected back upon us from this man. He is tall and graceful. His wife is tall and graceful. Their children, well-mannered yet possessing the precocious spark that is the child’s right to possess. They are the “First Family.” It will not just be a man leading us for the next four years. We are subject to the influences of his day to day life as defined by his most important relationships. The intelligence in mind and heart that has brought this man to lead have been nurtured by his willingness to connect to his family every day. President Barack Obama is a man who called his daughters from the campaign trail nightly, and it is this action, that makes us believe in him. He walks the talk of personal responsibility. When he and Michelle join hands, there seems to be true teamwork at play. They look at one another like they are proud to have one another, and to be the parents of two healthy girls. This man and woman’s demeanor, as well as their words, seem to tell us that anything called success beyond the love of having a family together is just gravy. President Barack Obama speaks like a statesman, like a scholar, like a preacher… But mostly I just hear an honest man, a father who has experienced life’s ups and downs like all of us, and has found in his heart a space of infinite possibility. It is a place of faith not always found in the book that he pledged upon this morning, but found on the sea of faces looking up at him. We are human yes, but we are extentions of something greater. History is full of the supposedly impossible. He spoke today to remind us that our legacy–although subject to tarnish–is one not to be bet against.
