Our Inauguration

January 20th, 2009. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Inauguration day.

Today I saw a man promise to preserve, protect and defend a living document that counted him as three-fifths of a person until an amendment was added in the back.

Today I saw a man take the reins of leadership of a country in which he could have once been owned as property two centuries ago, in which he couldn't have voted one century ago, in which he wouldn't even have been served in some restaurants or been allowed to sit next to me on the bus half a century ago. I saw him become the most powerful person in the world.

Today I saw a great mind become president as the clock struck noon, as he listened to perhaps the most talented quartet of musicians the world has ever seen--a Jew, an Asian, a Christian and a black man--playing a variation of "Simple Gifts," a Shaker melody whose almost-forgotten lyrics declare that it is a gift to be free.

Today I saw a man offer patent honesty about the challenges face by a nation when offered unadulterated devotion and jubilation by the masses. I saw him redirect our attention from the afterglow of an election to the real work that lies ahead.

Today I saw a man captivate the world by raising his right hand, by becoming not just the head but the real face of a nation that leads the world into prosperity and crisis alike, whose relationships with its global neighbors define the destiny of a planet. Today as tears fell, as leaders and peasants held their breath, as humanity watched a transition and a transformation from over 240 nations and territories, we all heard a man say to world leaders--and really to the whole world--that we will be judged by what we can build, not by what we destroy. Leaders will be judged by their people, citizens will be judged by their peers, and nations will be judged by history on the basis of what we create, what we leave behind, and how well we fulfill humanity's pledge to leave for our children better than that which we ourselves received.

Today I saw a man ready to lead, and a nation willing to follow.