Witnessing Wonders

I love seeing grown men cry. Something extraordinarily monumental is happening when, in our society, male strangers break down and weep with joy. I am honored, elated and grateful to be alive today and witness the humanness of it all.

At 7AM, my partner and I went to our local movie theater that was showing the Inauguration speech on 2 screens and providing free breakfast. The line encircled the block and was chock full of white folks. They'd been there since 5AM. We hightailed it to a friend's home who was hosting a viewing of the ceremony.

As Barack Hussein Obama, the first African America to become this country's President, began to speak, I started to cry along with the other guests. I cried at the possibilities that pulled at my heart and debated with the cynicism of my mind. Each tear carried a prayer for unity between gays and Christians; each drop cleansing bloodshed between Israelis and Palestinians, Iraqis and Americans, and every place and massacre kept stealthily hidden from the American public.

The enormity of the challenges that have been heaped on our collective plate is staggering. The difference is that we have a leader that admits and speaks of our mistakes, that calls all of us to work together and take responsibility for our past and future actions and who reminds us that not only are we in the midst of an abysmal economic, ecologic and spiritual maelstrom, we are a pertinent part of the solution.