Up Close And Personal At The Inauguration

What would compel someone to wake up at 4:30 in the morning, face heavy traffic, and stand outside in 15-degree weather with pushy crowds all to see an event that would probably have been more enjoyable in the comfort of one's own home? For many that trekked to our nation's capitol, all the stress and hassle was tolerated for the sake of a memory, a sort of "I was there" confirmation.

After all, who would have thought that 2009 would be the year when Americans denounced the scars of intolerance and segregation that threatened to divide a country in the '50s and '60s and reaffirmed the illustrious principles of unity and diversity that have brought this country forward?

I was a speck in the crowd of an estimated 2 million people crowding every available space in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20. I was there with a group called the Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference.

My entire trip to D.C. had been building up to this day. A series of renowned guest speakers, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Al Gore, Lisa Ling, Colin Powell, Desmond Tutu, spoke to the group to ready us for the historical impact this day would have on us as individuals and the world.

As the groups loaded onto the buses that would take us into Washington, I couldn't suppress the feeling of nervous excitement. The 2008 election had been the first I'd paid close attention to. I followed the debates (even though they were on school nights), I watched the polls, but most of all, I watched the American people through the pages of my Time magazines.

The attitudes of Americans could be gauged anywhere from: "Don't trust the Muslim" to "Obama is the embodiment of Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream." So I think it is safe for me to say, as a young person not burdened down with the responsibilities of political etiquette, that Americans were wary of this candidate. He was quite simply, new territory.

Barack Obama had something no other candidate did, mixed lineage. And while some were cautious, some whites not to be labeled racists and some blacks not to be labeled sell-outs, for endorsing or not endorsing this candidate, the group that "took his election and ran with it" was the youth. Never before had a campaign tapped into the most far reaching communication outlet available, the Internet. It was commonplace to see Obama videos on Youtube, Facebook message boards devoted to his politics, websites outlining his plan to bring about change.

So when I pushed my way through the crowds to get a spot of prime real estate, right in front of a Jumbo-Tron, I wanted to watch not as a spectator but as an observer, an observer of the people. I stood shoulder to shoulder with people that had traveled hundreds of miles, and people who walked down the street. I stood with Democrats and I stood with Republicans. I had the opportunity to stand with America.

All these people had gathered there to see one man. They placed all their hopes and worries in the hands of this one man. And when his face appeared on the screen the crowd took on a life of its own waving their flags, cheering, and crying. Their spirit infected me as well and I felt this inexplicable joy. I think it didn't stem as much from the fact that there stood the first biracial president; rather, this was the first time I'd seen so many Americans reacting in a euphoric state simultaneously. And that was a very powerful feeling.

Although I was extremely disappointed with the immaturity of the crowds when President Bush came on the screen, and aside from Chief Justice Roberts flubbing his lines, the inauguration went off smoothly.

Years from now during casual conversation concerning the Obama administration's successes or failures, the topic might alight on his inauguration. Imagine the pleasant surprise both speakers would have upon learning that they both were there. Ahhh just imagine.