One of the perks of working at a school is that I don't have to work on holidays
like MLK Day. Without really
planning to, I ended up watching most of the presidential inauguration. It’s a strange feeling to watch the
inauguration of a president that you did not vote for. I admit that this election was difficult
for Gabe and me. It was probably
one of the first times we truly questioned whom we should vote for. Besides the fact that California leans so
predominantly toward Democrats (the state was decided for Obama in the election before
the voting had even ended), we’ve benefited from many of Obama’s policies. Obama was also obviously much more
appealing to people in our age group than Romney was. In the end, however, we decided that maybe there were bigger
things to think about than what the president could do for us as
individuals. Mostly, though, I
recognize that Gabe and I are both still largely influenced by the thinking and
beliefs of our families. And I do
not count this as a bad thing.
These beliefs—including but not limited to our faith—is what I think has
kept us grounded in the midst of all our transition.
I do not mean to go into the murky waters of politics, but I
say all of this to explain how mixed up I was when I first started watching the
proceedings this morning. Should I
be celebrating a man that I wasn’t sure I wanted to be president of our country
in the first place? But then I
realized, that the inauguration today was not just a celebration of one
man. It’s a celebration of a
country that fought hard to give its citizens the right to vote for this one
man. I watched what took place,
and I felt proud. I am not always
one to feel overly patriotic, but I also know that I cannot forget how proud
and blessed I feel to have been able to have my own say in the last
election.
I was a little disappointed that the president used his
inauguration speech as a platform to promote his political agenda, but then
again, I didn’t really expect any less and he certainly has a right to say such things. I still felt that despite whatever pointed words were said,
the American people united to support the man that as a collective we had elected
to lead us. I just hope that no
matter how flawed our political system is, no matter what political background
people have come from, we can all together be thankful for the men and women
who were elected based on the ideals that made this country so great.
