Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Inauguration 2009

Today we say good-bye to Bush 43 and welcome to the 44th President of The United States of America. It's a great day in American history! The first Black President (though he is also half white, which the prejudiced person conveniently ignores) of the U.S. Here in the Midwest, I am already hearing prejudiced jokes about Obama in the Whitehouse like, "Their getting rid of the rose garden and planting a watermelon patch." It reminds me of Clinton's Inauguration speech when he said, "Nothing big comes from being small!"


Inauguration Day comes on the heals of Martin Luther King Day, the day that celebrates the man who gave his great "I have a dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963. Lincoln stands proud behind both of these great men of our nation, a nation that he led through a difficult period in history that helped to make this day possible.

King was prophetic from the beginning of speech when he said, "I am happy to join you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation."

Other great speeches on this day, which go beyond the brief historic sound bite, echo in the hope that we now have for our country's future! Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, "The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself. Nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror, which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance." John F. Kennedy in 1961, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what American will do for you, but what we can do together for the freedom of man."

A forgotten speech, one that I believe fits very well for today, was delivered by Gerald Ford in 1974 after the Watergate scandal. It mirrors the mess that Nixon, and now Bush, left this country in. Ford states, "My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over. As we bind up our wounds, let us apply the Golden Rule to our political process and let brotherly love purge our hearts of suspicion and hate."

Abraham Lincoln ended his Inauguration speech with words of poetry and hope for us that still ring true today, "The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearth-stone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."


God bless American and God bless President Barrack Hussein Obama!

Sir Hook the Proud and Hopeful American of Warrick

5 comments:

Sir Bowie of Greenbriar (a.k.a. David A. Kuhn) said...

I attended the Unitarian Universalist Church this past Sunday and the sermon was titled "We Are the Ones."

The basic message was that we are the people. We are the people in Lincoln's "A Government of the people, by the people and for the people..."

"We are the people" is really an ancient concept. It's one that, hopefully, be the focus of the day. It is now the hour!

From: The Hopi Elders Speak
We Are the Ones
We've Been Waiting For

You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour.

Now you must go back and tell the people that this is The Hour.

Create your community. Be good to each other. And do not look outside yourself for the leader.

This could be a good time!

There is a river flowing now very fast. (Lady Suzanne and I also watched a great movie last night, "A River Runs Through It") It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart, and they will suffer greatly.

Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water. See who is in there with you and celebrate.

At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally. Least of all, ourselves. For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt.

The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves!

Banish the word struggle from your attitude and your vocabulary.

All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.

We are the ones we've been waiting for.

—The Elders Oraibi
Arizona Hopi Nation

Sir Bowie "not sure that this has anything to do with anything today; just throwing it out there" of Greenbriar

dkWells said...

Sir Bowie, that has everything to do with today! Well said and shared! Thank you!

Sir Hook Who's Done Waiting On Himself of Warrick

Anonymous said...

Yay America. Have a Great Day!!...a real Red Letter Day.

Thankyou for voting in someone at last that i'm not scared or ashamed to look at in the Oval Office...

We'll be misty eyed at 5pm GMT
12 EST ,watching the TV in a bar.. and raising a glass as he has his hands on Lincolns Bible whoooo HOOO

Lets all push behind him...

Sir Dayvd

Anonymous said...

.......

and my favourite Quote of the moment.. which i have made into a sign on my workshop wall..is the one off the VW Golf advert on TV..

" Sometimes in Life the only one you have to beat is Yourself"

Sir Dayvd

dkWells said...

I used to beat myself quite often, but I know what you're talking about! Thank you for the support across the pond! Our British Brothers and Sisters are loved here in our country!

It goes to show how small our world has become. Here we are sharing this historic moment in real time. I'm watching ABC NEWS on TV and online with CNN.COM , and as soon the Obama's arrived at the Whitehouse to be greeted by the Bush's for the traditional coffee, covered live by ABC, CNN had the picture taken and uploaded on their site! So, I replaced the sad photo of Bush with that one for the first picture of the blog.

Time to take Ford's advice and apply the Golden Rule to our political process!

Sir Hook the Forgiver and Forgiven of Warrick