Inauguration Day, My Experience

By Maureen F Balaam

The day began with a new feeling of calm and then there was that estatic layer of excitement!
I rushed down to the Monterey Center for Change to view the event with some friends. People
crowded into the room. There were cameras surrounding us. It was really fun when school children
arrived and the whole room of adults squished our chairs together to make room for them.

I watched enjoying every moment of the festivities. Everyone in Washington looked extra beautiful
and beaming, even on that cold, cold day. The music was wonderful and touched my heart. Aretha
wore that amazing hat. My friend next to me was not so sure about the hat, yet it was pure Aretha
and having her "there" was perfect. People, there were so many people on the screen in front of us
and some had been there for hours in the east coast winter and I felt grateful to be warm.

What I noticed over and over again with the people in the room and the people on the screen that
they were genuinely happy. I could recognize that because inside I felt it myself. The "genuinely happy"
was something a bit unfamiliar in regards to the political scene in our country for a long long time.
Watching our outgoing president, President Bush, no longer in the control seat and seemingly
uncomfortable, was pleasurable. Though I would have loved to interview him at that moment, the moment
was not his and I was grateful for that.

Tears in everyone's eyes and mine, I noticed a feeling inside of myself of expectentcy that I was
not yet able to let myself really believe. Our wonderful new president was full of hope and I felt battered
by the last 8 years and all the lies and damage left across our earth were so close to my heart I could not allow
myself to completley feel anew. I wanted to feel anew. I looked forward to it. I accepted that this feeling
would grow as the days passed and as the multitude of problems were addressed. It would be a slow
healing process. What I felt most was relief that we have turned a corner, made
a statement, made history, made steps in the right direction. Finally I could see that landscape once
again and feel hope for all of us on the horizon.

Looking back to days when I was a young teenage glued to the black and white images on our television
of the struggles over race I could not imagine that one day our country would be able to see beyond the
race that divided us. Now, today, it united us. The future suddenly amplified for all children of any color or
disadvantage. Our entire society was upgraded to a higher level of acceptance and possibilty. The door before us
no longer a futuristic dream but NOW. Who would take the challenge to walk throught the door? Who would
take the challenge to walk through the door standing tall like the man taking office on this day? What we all
knew on that day was that we all had to walk throught that door together. We all need each other. It was a
proud day for African American people and for all the other people who love them.