zeegoeshere

I'm so excited for the inauguration on Tuesday that I'm tearing up all the time and I can't think straight. Today in my U.S. Government class, the professor lectured about the Declaration of Independence and its context, and we watched a short TV special on Thomas Jefferson and how he consistently wrote about his moral objections to slavery and wanted to address the wrongness of slavery in the Declaration of Independence, yet he owned slaves all his life and was never really a huge vocal advocate for abolition in public. It's amazing to me that we've made our way from there to here--it's amazing both that we have chosen an African American to be our president, and that we're experiencing such a huge transfer of power peacefully. It's not necessarily proof that our system of government works for everyone, but I think it is proof that our system has the potential to work for everyone, and it's proof of our ability as a nation and as a species to improve.

The Obama transition organization (or whatever they call themselves, I've forgotten what it is exactly) held an essay-writing contest last week, to write about what the inauguration means to you. They're going to select ten winners to receive a trip to D.C. and the inauguration. I submitted an essay, and I'll be extremely surprised if I win, but I'm glad for the opportunity to write about my experiences with the Obama campaign. This is a personal account and it's pretty cheesy, but then I am absolutely a cheesy cliché when it comes to President Obama. ( He gave me my hope back. )