Inauguration

Congratulations, President Obama.

It's 21:33 hours on Tuesday, January the 20th. As of this moment, it is Inauguration Day in the United States, about 0933 in the United States, in Washington DC.

At 1200, President-Elect Barack Obama will become the next President of the United States, and the first African American to do so. I wish him the very best, and hope he will succeed in turning things around in the United States.

I am enough of a cynic to worry this will not be possible, but enough of an optimist to continue to hope, and to be willing to help in my own ways--if you are interested in doing so, and live in the United States, facebook is a great place to start, as is http://change.gov, which is the website Obama's team has set up so you can link volunteer groups and other organizations together with volunteers. In short, Obama has tried to start putting his words in action. On this front, I can salute him quite happily.

Anyway, it's a new day, and I'm hopeful it will be a new era for the US. I may disagree with the actions of their government, and I don't doubt I shall continue to do so. However, I still very much admire the potential that they represent, as embodied in the argument of their declaration that all men and women, are created free and equal.

It's interesting to note that it was forty years ago, yesterday, that Martin Luther King, Jr., was murdered. President Obama's inauguration cannot atone for that death. It does, however, represent the beginning of the realization of the goals Dr King once had: to see all people united in the realization of their common humanity, hopes, and dreams. 

Here's to the end of the beginning of that dream. And here's to the hope that, in four or eight years' time, we can look back on this day and say that good things began here, and now.

Cheers, 

Chris