Inauguration Day in the U.S.
The day has finally come. Obama is about to be President! I was thinking this morning about events I’ve lived through in my lifetime. The election of John F. Kennedy and his inspiring inauguration speech. His assasination. The assasination of Robert Kennedy. Nixon in China. The end of the Vietnam War and the resignation of Richard Nixon. Martin Luther King’s speech at the March on Washington. His assasination. Rioting in U.S. cities. Malcolm X. The end of Apartheid in South Africa. The death of Mao in China. The Soviet Union in Afghanistan. The U.S. there now. Too many wars and regional conflicts everywhere. Peace in Northern Ireland. The Israel-Egypt peace treaty. The assasination of Anwar Sadat. Of all the events that have occurred in my lifetime, except for the coming down of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War, the election of Obama may be the most important historical moment I will experience. It could be the beginning of a change in global thinking. People in the world seem eager. They seem anxious to dream and to hope. The reality of politics and the persistent cynicism, greed, and duplicity of many political leaders throughout the world may well spoil the dream. But there’s a chance that Obama will appeal to our better natures, and that the world may take yet another step forward toward peace and unity. Who knows? We may all take important steps together in the right direction.