January 20th 2009 marked the historic inauguration of the 44th U.S. President, Barack Obama. It was a blustery cold day but the smiles of strangers seemed to warm me up! Being at Washington’s National Mall for the inauguration of President Barack Obama, with close to 2 million people, is something that I will never forget.
It was truly a historical moment. Any time you can be a part of history, it’s special. The atmosphere was electrifying! In all my life, i've never seen such a huge crowd or record number of porta potties!!! Close to 2 million people! There was no division amongst the masses, everyone was there with one common cause to be part of something great.
I won't lie, I choked up a couple of times...alright I cried. I even cried when Aretha Franklin sang My Country Tis of Thee.
What also got me to tear up was speaking to an elderly lady, Dixie. She was in her 80's and from Alabama. She lost one of her cousins when white extremists petrol bombed their church during a service, back in the 60's. She was in tears throughout the ceremony because she never believed this moment would take place in her lifetime. Just hearing her stories of the struggles she and her family endured brought me to tears. There I was in the midst of chaos and excitement, crying.
All the traumatic experiences I have been through are nothing compared to the traumatic experiences of those brave citizens who paved the way for Obama....The Jesse Jacksons...The Martin Luther King Jnrs, The Ruby Bridges', The Homer Plessy's, The Rosa Parks, The Sojourner Truth's and the Harriot Tubmans.
After Obama took his oath, it hit me that our generation has just witnessed an amazing historical moment. It's a moment we'll never forget regardless if you're black or white; a democrat, republican or independent; american or south african; kenyan or hawaiian.
The sights and sounds of over a million people does become overwhelming-- your senses are heightened...your heart beats faster, you get sweaty palms...you feel like a tiny fish in the indian ocean - insignificant, somewhat. You begin to realise that we all need to put our differences aside and come together in order to bring about the change we want to see in our world.
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