historic

Jon is working away preparing his lesson for tomorrow. Yesterday, he was doing much of the same, putting together videos and information to teach the kids about Martin Luther King Jr. My thought was: If they get a day off to remember someone, they better know why we remember them. Jon asked his kids, "Who is Martin Luther King Jr. and why is he important to American history?" One reply, according to Jon, was that MLK freed the slaves. Not quite, Jimmy. Tomorrow, Jon is showing video from today's historic inauguration. I don't know if the kids will really grasp the depth and significance of the event, and admit that being only 25 I can't imagine all that it means to some Americans, but I don't think Jon can deny at least presenting it to them.

I got into the Portland Monthly office just before 9am today and saw people hovering around computer screens watching a live stream of the inauguration. I wanted so badly to watch, but was too timid to join the editors, intern as I am. Instead I listened as a nearby abandoned computer showed Joe Biden taking the oath of office. During Obama's speech another intern asked where everyone was at and we (bravely) joined most everyone else. Strange that we were huddled around a computer, and there were no tv's in the office. I felt a tension those first few minutes at work, knowing a monumental event was taking place and yet feeling I couldn't enter into it. I was moved as I heard the choppy stream of video playing President Obama's swearing in. An excitement jumped in my stomach, the same feeling I had the night we watched the election results in November.

It is interesting to sense my furthering entrance into adulthood as historic events take place and I feel grounded in their importance. I must watch and listen. I must sit and be still, taking it in. When the planes and panic struck on Sept. 11, 2001, I remember exactly where I was and how I felt the days following. I prayed that it would go away, but knew that the world had changed with that day. Still, I was only 18 and wasn't sure what to do with the information and emotions that came with those events. Now Jon and I are seeking to participate in and share the historic nature of the election of President Obama. I am becoming more adult in my mind, because I am becoming more aware. And I can hear, like an echo, my words to my children recalling these events years from now, though I do not think they will know enough to really listen.