It was a good day.
My favorite part of the inauguration was the quartet, "Air and Simple Gifts".
I was really struck by a conversation that I had with my children late yesterday afternoon...Both of them had been really engaged in the entire year of primaries, contests, the conventions and then the final election. My 9 year old son, stayed up to watch both conventions. They had a sense of the grandier of the day, but it became clear to me, they truly did not understand why yesterday was so monumental. I heard probing questions like "Why are so many people there?...Why is this inauguration different?" and then it dawned on me that they did not truly understand...
I had my daughter grab her social studies book...inside the front cover are the tiny oval pictures of each of the presidents. We talked about *almost* all of them, the differences, what was going on in the world and how they all were intertwined. We talked about the point at which women and black Americans could vote...and then it really began to sink in how important it is...
It makes me wonder what it will be like the day a woman will be President.
2 comments:
The fact that they didn't understand the importance of the day shows how far we've all come.
That kids today are far more accepting of people's skin color and their right to become what ever they want to be is amazing. My 16 year old understood that this was our first black President but still didn't really understand what that means to the world and all people in America either. She grew up in a better, more equal world than I did. Thank goodness!
Couldn't agree more!
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