Inauguration Day

At the risk of being cheesy, I feel like I should write something about Inauguration Day because I think it is an important day in history. We watched it on TV at school and the kids were amazed that it was happening LIVE. There were also "oohs and ahhs" when the camera panned to the crowd waving flags right after Obama was sworn in. It was definitely a memorable day.

The first presidential election I remember was when I was in 2nd grade. We went down the hall to cast our ballots and they announced the winner over the intercom. I remember thinking that both candidates (the first George Bush and Dukakis) were kind of the same...at least in my eight-year-old eyes. I wondered if I would ever see a minority or woman president. I hoped that it would happen in my lifetime, but deep down I kind of doubted that it would. I grew up hearing people of my grandparents' generation (and even people of my parents' generation) make sexist and racist remarks. I thought it would take a long time to change people's minds.

Fast forward to 20 years later. My class reads about Martin Luther King, Jr. in our reading book around this time of year. And each year we have a discussion about segregation because they are confused by it. I talk about how my parents remember how the movie theater in Chillicothe had separate seating, water fountains, and concession counters for black and white customers. The kids ask "But why would someone do that? Who allowed them to get away with it? What about the police?" They cannot even fathom slavery or separation because of skin color. The whole concept of people treating each other in such ugly and hurtful ways blows their minds. It always makes me happy and hopeful that kids today are raised to respect everyone and can't imagine a world where people aren't treated equally.

I am excited to bring a daughter into this kind of world. I'm not really into to politics at all, but I don't think you have to be to be proud of the United States electing a black man as president. I would have been equally as proud if we had our first woman vice president. Either way it shows that the country and the attitudes of people are changing for the better. So even though the country has economic problems, I am optimistic for the future. I know that the world is a different place now than it was when my parents grew up and some of the things are much worse, but this is one area that is definitely an improvement. I like it that my daughter won't have to wonder if someone other than a white man will be president "one day". It will just be the world as she knows it.