My Inaguration Experience

Janary 20, 2009 12:00 PM Eastern Time

The peaceful transition of power took place here in Washington DC. I went down to the National Mall in Washington, D.C. -- not today, but on Sunday for the Inaugural concert. Woke up at 6 AM and drove downtown, parked and made my way through the crowds to set up a tarp and blanket by the reflecting pool near the Lincoln Memorial. I got there at 830 AM for a 230 PM performance, and sat there in the cold with about 400,000 other people. Was it worth it?

Yes. Not just for the performances. I can now say I was a part of history. I witnessed democracy in action, as a man from one political party gave way to a man from the opposing one. The election of America's first African-American president made me realize that we are coming closer and closer to a time of racial tolerance and equality. Now, as Martin Luther King envisioned, people can be judged by "the content of their character."

People all around the world felt the history that was being made around us. Over 400,000 people braved the cold just to get a chance to be a small part of this historic weekend. During the concert, what really struck me was the diversity. Sure the artists were young and old, black and white, rich and.... well.. richer. But it was the crowd that really got to me. When Barack Obama took the stage, there were people in the audience who were actually crying. There were old people who felt they would never live to see this day, and young children filled with hope, who never knew a day when there was segregation. Just within a few feet of the blanket where I was seated was a law professor from Syracuse, a personal trainer, and an African-American family from Chicago. The crowd itself was black. It was brown. It was white. It was yellow. It reflected the melting pot that is America. And it was THAT more than the word spoken that gave everyone hope, and truly made this an historic day.