The more things change...

In consequence of the New Year and the new president, I have been thinking about change, which, ironically, is exactly what our new president has promised America. It’s funny how at this time of year everyone has such strong resolutions. I used to work at the YMCA, and I remember how, starting January 2nd, there would be people standing in line at 5:30 in the morning, waiting for the doors to open because it was a new year, and this year they were going to work out every single day. That lasted for about three weeks. Then the parking lot was empty again.

Now, America has a new President. President Obama campaigned promising to bring change to Washington, change to America. Actually, every politician has, in some way, shape, or form, tried to bring change to his office. Everyone seems to have high hopes for President Obama, especially since he is our first African-American president. He is viewed as the pinnacle of a long-awaited dream, a symbol of progress in the United States. While having an African-American man as president does mark the long way we have come, I can’t help but thinking of the other ways that we as a country have not progressed. Maybe I’m being pessimistic, but I just think it’s important not to get too caught up in the nostalgia of this historic moment, and put too much hope in Obama. He is, after all, just a human like the rest of us, and none of us are perfect.

While I was doing my critical reading questions yesterday, something in the passage by Emerson stuck out to me. He was talking about the writer’s ability to speak to the hearts of many different kinds of people, from different times and places. “There is some awe mixed with the joy of our surprise, when this poet, who lived in some past world, two or three hundred years ago, says that which lies close to my own soul, that which I also had well-nigh thought and said.” This is true. How many times has it seemed like a story or novel or poem said exactly what you were thinking or feeling? The reason for this is, I think, because we are all humans, and no matter what era we come from, or what region of the world we live, we are united by our humanness. We may think that we, 21st century Americans, could have nothing in common with someone from several hundred years ago, but really we share many of the same hopes, dreams, fears, aspirations and mistakes.

Yesterday was a historic day in America as our 44th president was inaugurated, but as far as progress is concerned, we still have a long way to go. People have been prideful, lustful, stubborn, mean, selfish, greedy, and stealing, lying, cheating, hating, and murdering since the dawn of time. Even Cain and Able, the very first brothers, could not get along. Although in racism America has made mounds of progress, there are so many other areas that we continue to fall short in. Why? Because we are humans—we have always made mistakes and we always will. I just hope that in celebrations of President Obama, we don’t smugly forget our other shortcomings.

Yesterday I had trouble finding a cartoon that I liked. (Some political cartoons can be so mean!) But here is a nice one I found that even goes along with the theme of my post. http://candorville.com/comics/2009-01-18-inauguration.jpg