At the Inauguration - Day Two

Monday, January 19, 2008

The morning is cold, but with joyous bits of sun. Spent most of the day visiting the Capital, the Mall, the Smithsonian museums, and scouting out the route to the Purple Gate through which I would enter the inaugural ceremony tomorrow morning. Thousands of people from everywhere were doing the same thing. It was a festive atmosphere and not too many lines. Tomorrow would surely be different.

Monday Night. The Metro Center underground station.

Washington, D. C.

Perhaps the unlikeliest place for a rally. Not. The energy was everywhere, always. It was almost midnight on Inauguration Eve. All of the pre-inaugural balls were letting out, crowding the subway platforms with formal-clad patrons mingled with citizens coming from ordinary places. (We were on our way back to Chevy Chase from the Delaware State Society Ball.) On the skybridge above the tracks came the instructions from four enthusiastic young people to everyone on the train platforms above and below:

Young Leaders: When I say Barack, you say Obama!

Barack

Crowd: Obama

Leaders: Melia

Crowd: Obama

Leader: Sasha

Crowd: Obama

Leader: Michelle

Crowd: Obama

Leader: Fired Up

Crowd: And ready to go

Leader: Fired Up

Crowd: And ready to go

Leader: Fired Up

Crowd: And ready to go

Spontaneous rhythmic clapping energized the cadence and echoed throughout the resonant subway station.

Everyone is fired up and ready to go. The anticipation of tomorrow is feverish. The hope of a nation is sounded in the call and response chant invoking the name of Obama. This must be what the crowd was like as Jesus rode into Jerusalem, crowds pushing and shoving to catch a glimpse, waving palms, shouting Hosannas.

Obama is not a saviour; not a great black hope. We must be careful to preserve his humanity, not to set him and us up for disappointment. But for the moment, hero he is. Humans are fickle. As fast as they raise someone up on their shoulders, so will they drop him when their interests and needs are not fed.

Let us raise him up with prayers and our support and our hard work; being responsible and accountable for our part. Let us be fired up and ready to go.