Going to the mall takes on new meaning tomorrow

I just saw on the news that if there are one million people standing on the mall to see the great event, there will be as much space per person as an open newspaper.  If there are two million, then it will be the space of a closed newspaper. 

Can you imagine?

I am all for seeing history being made, but quite frankly, all a lot of people are going to see are the people standing next to them.  I know that you don't experience the energy of the actual event if you are sitting in front of a television, but if it's going to be anything like the election, I am not sure I could take any more emotion -- there was plenty going around without actually being there, thank you very much!

When Maddie said to me this evening in a totally disgusted tone of voice that she "had to watch the inauguration tomorrow," I wanted to smack her. Here I was trying to figure out how not to miss it (I was going to DVR it, but the inauguration starts at 9:30 in the morning and goes all day, I don't have that much space!) and here she is moaning about her bad luck at being forced to watch it at school.  It is for her history class, and I said to her that here she was, LIVING history, being a part of one of the most amazing things this country had done in a REAL long time, certainly in her lifetime, and she thinks it's no big deal?

FOR SHAME!

SHAME SHAME SHAME SHAME SHAME. Then once she was over being a typical teenager, she went on to explain to Charlie and I about the speaker at school today, a black man who said that when he gave the speech two years ago, a child asked him if he thought there would ever be a black man in the White House, and he said no.

I asked her how that made her feel?  And she said that she hadn't really thought about it.  Which makes me wonder, what exactly do our children think about?

Seriously!

What touches them?  What evokes strong emotions?  What could happen in the world today that would be meaningful?

I was watching the Oprah show and she is of course pulling out all the stops, and the show began with a marriage between Martin Luther's King's speech and Obama's election night speech.  I literally felt all the cells in my body riggle around, it was sort of like getting the chills, except that I could seriously feel each cell, from head to toe do a dance.  To listen to MLK scream that he has a dream, then to see that dream turn into reality ... it's just beyond words, it really is.

Maddie then said that "all the kids at school say that Obama is going to get shot."  I have been hearing this for years.  Years.  And what is the purpose?  If you say you want a boy when you are the pregnant mother of five boys, do you really believe that by NOT stating you want a girl, it makes any difference?  Is this some kind of superstition, if people keep saying it, then it won't happen? 

Because I like to believe that we have come a long way since shooting the people who stood for things some people didn't was in vogue.  There have been so many presidents in my lifetime that would seem perfect targets in my mind, but what?  We only shoot the good ones?  Come on, that's silly, and I think that people shouldn't even allow it into the collective consciousness of the universe.  It should be mandatory (not that I believe in taking away anyone's rights of course or imposing mandates) but it should be MANDATORY that we all get behind this guy and we should all intend to not let this country slip further into the deep hole it's been mired in for the last least eight years, if not longer.

There is a call in the wind for people to take action -- and I think it could potentially be the most amazing thing that America has seen yet.  Even if it is small, each person's act will make a significant difference. I have already begun this myself, in just being more aware of the fact that if I purchase something, then I am the one responsible for its lifetime on the planet.  I turn off lights that aren't needed, I don't waste water. Yes, these are small, but what I think is so interesting is how aware I am.  I was cleaning out a chest and there were all these old games the kids are too old for, most without all their parts.  And they were constructed of this hard plastic, and I thought, "Oh no!  This will end up in the ocean in that big mass of plastic and will never go away."  I didn't know what to do!  What do I do?

I can't just throw something away and forget about it.  I have attached myself with the responsibility of it, and it is kind of overwhelming. I don't think this is good, I think the attachment of anything that affects you negatively is definitely something you want to avoid.  But it really has struck home the fact that everything we bring into our lives should be examined carefully and thoughtfully, with the understanding that it will take up space in your life, perhaps forever.

I know this is all a little random and off-topic from the start of this blog, but then again, I'm not so sure.  I suspect that tomorrow's speech will hold in it many requests for American's to understand that the only way we can move on is to help.  This is not just one man's job, this is everyone's job.

Tomorrow we start anew.  Yahoo.