Watching the Inauguration yesterday on a big screen set up in the auditorium filled with Hispanic and African American middle school students, I wept. These students are watching the swearing in of a president who looks like them. It feels like a dream . After all these years in inner city schools with so little reflected in the larger world of the value of these lives and this work, there is suddenly an enormous shift and a great big breath of relief we all take together. YES. We have been blessed to arrive at such a place in our history. And yet, there remains all the fallout of the old world. Every day, all around me, there is anxiety . How long will it take for J to get a job? Does he have to start all over from the beginning, like a 20 year old, training in one of those new careers that the economic stimulus package will create? It is demoralizing. And yet even this is an opportunity. For part of me believes we as a nation must do this inward soul searching. Admit that we have all been addicts and go through our own 12 step program to deal with this addiction to stuff, to oil, to the consuming of so much more than we need of everything. WE need to make amends to everyone we hurt in the process. Open those clenched fists and learn to live like we did back in the 70's, communally, sharing resources, living on as little as we can, trading the skills that we have. I am inspired by the kindness and generosity that Obama's world view makes possible.
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