Shut down the parties. Clean off the mudslinging. Ignore the partisan posturing, the media skewering and the talking head, well, talking. Do me a favor and take the politics out of it.
What are you left with? A group of 800,000+ happy, cheering and optimistic people gathered together amidst monuments and museums, looking ahead to the future - their individual future and their collective. Somewhere in there are left leaners, right leaners, reds, blues, donkeys and elephants, whigs, torries and maybe even some bull moose. But strip that all away and you just have a group of forward thinkers - and the simple, unalienable right for them to be that way. In free nations we have something that many other nations around this great spinning ball of ours search, fight and kill for. In short: Democracy.
I had the good fortune to be able to attend the 57th Presidential Inauguration on Monday, January 21, 2013 in Washington, D.C. It was an opportunity to do something I rarely experience while traveling: engage history in the present, not just visit spots from the past. Regardless of your political views, the experience was something that should not be missed should the chance ever arise. To watch a shining example of that privilege unfold surrounded by all the pomp and circumstance fit for a Royal Wedding, was awe-inspiring by its very nature.
Ask the little boy in front of me. When President Obama began to speak, his father hoisted the boy up onto his shoulders to see better. The boy was wearing an Obama wool cap and could not stop smiling. He glanced around the mass of people, which he now towered over, before resting his gaze squarely on the President, a couple hundred yards away. The boy smiled and stared at Mr. Obama for the entire duration of the President's address. He couldn't have been more than 10 years old, and I'm sure he didn't fully grasp every detail and policy pitch. But it didn't matter. That boy understood he was watching something special and will remember it the rest of his life. Maybe it inspires him to get into politics, or public service or just get out and see the world looking for more unforgettable moments. Maybe it is just a fond memory of a day he spent with his dad while that guy spoke for a while in the shadow of a great, big dome. But it doesn't matter. He was there, participating in history.
I had to wake up at 4:30am just to get to my spot, where I stood for hours until the ceremony even began. The crowd ebbed and flowed and swelled to enormous before settling into a cold, dreary waiting patience. When the heavy hitters of American politics began streaming onto the dais, I recalled that this was something special. When my toes got a little too cold, I glanced over at that boy perched on his dad's shoulders and the chill disappeared. I was in a nation where my rights, that boy's rights and those of everyone huddled together on that lawn are protected by the very thing we stood around witnessing.
It is one thing to travel overseas and walk the grounds of ancient ruins or the halls of a foreign palace - to learn about the past. It is quite another thing to engage history - to live the present.
A few more photos from the Presidential Inauguration in Washington, DC - January 21, 2013
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