A Celebration of the Now
The significance and excitement of Tuesday (1/20/09) has been almost more than I can fully realize. Yes, there is great work to be done and immense problems to be solved, however; this is a rare time for me when the emotional bests the pragmatic in my own heart. I hear the calls not only from my own practical self but others to throw off the pageantry and simply get to work with the business of turning the country around, but my heart asks a basic defiant question.
Why shouldn’t we allow ourselves and our nation to celebrate the good for the same duration as we require ourselves to mourn the bad? Certainly we elected Barack Obama to lead the nation, we expect him to hit the ground running and by all indications this is exactly what he will do but I am compelled to stop and savor this moment by allowing it to sweep me up in feelings that I would typically brush aside as having little practical merit. I feel a sense of hope and optimism and I am resolved to allow myself to experience these emotions without regret, cynicism, guilt or embarrassment.
What follows is beyond my control, but what is fully within my control is my ability to enjoy the now without hesitation, knowing full well the call to “get to work” will eventually supplant these less than pragmatic feelings. Everything we are told is important indicates that we should always look past today and into the future for inspiration or hope. If you work hard you will be promoted in the future, if you study hard you will get a better job in the future, if you are faithful you will be rewarded in the afterlife, but what these things miss is the happiness that can be experienced today.
If you are moved by Tuesday’s events I encourage you to allow yourself to get emotional and fight the urge to shake off the excitement as something which makes practical progress on the real problems facing our country impossible. Enthusiasm, optimism and hope are the fuels of change and without them the fundamental ideals of our country are impossible to achieve.
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Bill Sanders