Inaugural Entry

This morning I had plans to post a very different entry. I didn't have much that I felt I could write about today's historical inauguration that wasn't already being said by all the pundits. My plan was to post a rant about how tiresome I think the use of the double entendre is in pop gay culture. But instead I stumbled upon something far more interesting and infinitely more appropriate to write about for today's blog entry.

After the ceremony, I made my way to the usual for Dim Sum and found that the city was nearly silent. The streets were empty and I was one of only three tables sitting in what is typically a decently busy dinning room. We all agreed that everybody was either at home or in their offices watching the events on television. After my lunch, I went to the bookstore to take one last look at what's available for 50% off in the rare books department. I came across an old issue of Harper's Weekly. Harpers was an American political magazine that featured both foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on a variety of subjects, humor, and fashion. The copy that I came across was a year in review for the year 1861. An inaugural year, and the year that Abraham Lincoln was sworn into office (March 4, 1861). I sat down at the only place provided to browse a book that you're considering to purchase and began reading from a page dated March 16, 1861. There were illustrations depicting the parade from the White House to the U.S. Capitol. Also, there was illustrated pictures of Lincoln together with Buchanan in the Senate Chamber before he is to take his oath and give his Inaugural speech. I could read about Dred Scott and about current news from the seven states that had already succeeded before the Lincoln Inauguration. The controversies over the slave trade and the oncoming Civil War. The general feeling of a divided nation that isn't so unlike how Independents, Democrats, and Republicans feel today. I have had my own personal issues with the last eight years and do have new hope for the future of my own group of people, but in general, I feel that there is most definitely a collective exhale being taken, and feeling of unity that has come with this new Presidency.

This morning our First Lady, Michelle Obama, carried in her hand the Lincoln Bible, that until today has been housed in the Library of Congress. It is most likely on it's way back there now. It was the bible that President Lincoln used to take his Oath of office. I think that the symbolism used by the Obama Administration is pretty remarkable. I previously understood the importance of having the first black President installed into the White House, but I felt that I was personally missing the black experience. Having read in Harper's Weekly about the actual events that came to pass, presented to me within the social contexts of the period, really helped me to understand how enormously important today's Inauguration really was, and how far this nation has come. I also now feel my own personal connection and enhanced perspective on today's events.

Life is often so curious to me. Just this morning over coffee I had asked Brad to help me to understand the significance of the pomp being displayed for a man that has not yet taken office. How can we celebrate the success of something that has not yet come to pass? But the piece that I was missing I would later find on a dusty shelf within the pages of a period serial from 1861.

-R