When I was a child, a few families, including mine, gathered at a neighbor's house on the morning of July 16th, 40 years ago this year, to watch Apollo 11 begin its journey to the Moon. (The neighbor was one of the few families with a color TV set.) As Apollo 11 cleared the tower of the launch platform, one of the parents said that we children should never forget this moment, for we were watching history. We did not know whether the astronauts of Apollo 11 would land on the Moon safely, let alone return. We, as a nation, were making the attempt and we were all optimistic.
And we knew that we were watching history being made.
I feel the same way today. I never thought that, in my lifetime, I would see a president who was anything other than a white man. Yet today I watched the son of an African man be sworn in as our president: President Barack Hussein Obama.
I don't know if the presidency of Barack Obama will be successful. I do know that he faces enormous challenges in the days, months and years ahead.
But, as on the morning of July 16th, 1969, I feel optimistic.
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3 comments:
I was at summer camp in Maine, 12 years old, when the counselors gathered the entire camp into the meeting hall, where there was one television, maybe 19". All 100+ campers huddled in front of it with no clue as to what we were there for, until the camp director announced that man was going to land on the moon. We watched as Neil Armstrong stepped out and spoke.
I have never forgotten that moment. Yes, that is exactly how it feels.
Amen
I share the optimism and hope to see in the coming days stories that reflect that.
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