Pondering A Day of Change

Tuesday, Inauguration Day 2009, was a most unusual day. It was something in the air, a mood, a sense that something ineffable had somehow shifted. Yes, there was the excitement about the first black president but it that wasn't it, that wasn't the real change. The real shift was something deeper. I remember the feeling from the '60s being similar but that was not as widespread. It was limited to a portion of the young in the US. I remember a similar feeling when the Berlin Wall came down but that too had it's limits. Yesterday the feeling was shared by people all over the world of all races, religions and nationalities. It felt like a real new beginning.

I confess that as I watched the proceedings and the celebrations I half expected them to be interrupted by a terrorist attack. Over six decades of life have taught me that there is always someone out there who is offended by others' happiness and will do whatever they can to disrupt it. I also recall how friends from the '60s turned cynical when the dreams of that era crumbled. And I know that only a bit over half the country voted for the change that happened yesterday but what I felt wasn't a political victory, it was a sense of possibility shining through all that negative history.

A line in the "Desiderata" says "...whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should." For a day, on Tuesday , it was clear.