Inauguration Day

I’m glad to be alive today – not because I agree with everything our new President Obama says, I don’t. But I have a renewed sense of optimism about our country that I haven’t feel since the days of John F. Kennedy. I was a freshman in high school the year JFK was assasinated, and sititng in my history class – a class taught by a Korean War veteran who listened to the news silently with tears rolling down his cheeks. As with so many fellow Baby Boomers, hope began to fade that day, and in its place a new awareness of how the world works, and sadly, a long-running cynicism.
Whether you are Democrat or Republican, black, white, yellow or red, hold a faith or are an atheis or agnostic, today is still a ground-breaking day, a day when new hope has taken root and people have felt united as they not have in many, many decades. I am glad this happened in my lifetime; I am glad my grandchildren will grow up in a country where they have good reason to believe anything is possible.
I am particularly glad, and almost giddy with joy, to think President Obama means what he says about operating a government more open and accountable to the people of this great country. I could dance at the thought of our Constitution being upheld and not shredded. I am thrilled to think our First Amendment rights – those rights by which I and and every one of my public relations colleagues is enabled to make a living – will be strengthened and respected.
This is a good day.