Yes We Did.
Jan. 20th, 2009 08:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amethyst73It's been an incredible few days, ne?
Sunday was MLKJr Sunday for the Episcopal Church. It's the one Sunday of the year when we drag out Gospel or Gospel-inspired hymns for every slot in the service (this year we even pulled out some Gospel service music). Now, I've sung "Lift Every Voice and Sing" and "We Shall Overcome" many many times in my life. But this weekend, because of the fact that we were preparing to inaugurate an African-American as President for the first time ever, the music felt especially appropriate, and everyone really got into it - to the point of moved-to-tears for some church members.
I didn't cry then. When I was driving home from church, though, I caught the opening pieces of the celebratory concert. After reflecting that the soloist for the national anthem could have benefited by rehearsing with the orchestra at least one more time than he apparently did prior to performance, an orchestra played Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man (youtube link). You've probably heard it; it's a marvelous fanfare of horns and drums that gets played for e.g. the Olympics and such. I think the conductor must have exhorted the drum and gong/cymbal players to really whack their respective percussion instruments for the inaugural concert performance. That was when I cried.
Today is a day of such hope and celebration for so many people. I rejoice with them. With us. And I hope and pray that all of us - not just Americans, but the entire world - can in fact manage to work together to try to solve the host of difficulties that we face, and that we have both the patience to give ideas a chance to work, and the intelligence to recognize that some implemented ideas aren't going to work after all and to rethink them. Perhaps hardest of all, I hope we have the wisdom needed in deciding when to be patient and when to change course.
I can hardly imagine a more difficult position to be in than that of President of the United States. Mr. President, I wish you the best of luck - and the best of wisdom.
Sunday was MLKJr Sunday for the Episcopal Church. It's the one Sunday of the year when we drag out Gospel or Gospel-inspired hymns for every slot in the service (this year we even pulled out some Gospel service music). Now, I've sung "Lift Every Voice and Sing" and "We Shall Overcome" many many times in my life. But this weekend, because of the fact that we were preparing to inaugurate an African-American as President for the first time ever, the music felt especially appropriate, and everyone really got into it - to the point of moved-to-tears for some church members.
I didn't cry then. When I was driving home from church, though, I caught the opening pieces of the celebratory concert. After reflecting that the soloist for the national anthem could have benefited by rehearsing with the orchestra at least one more time than he apparently did prior to performance, an orchestra played Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man (youtube link). You've probably heard it; it's a marvelous fanfare of horns and drums that gets played for e.g. the Olympics and such. I think the conductor must have exhorted the drum and gong/cymbal players to really whack their respective percussion instruments for the inaugural concert performance. That was when I cried.
Today is a day of such hope and celebration for so many people. I rejoice with them. With us. And I hope and pray that all of us - not just Americans, but the entire world - can in fact manage to work together to try to solve the host of difficulties that we face, and that we have both the patience to give ideas a chance to work, and the intelligence to recognize that some implemented ideas aren't going to work after all and to rethink them. Perhaps hardest of all, I hope we have the wisdom needed in deciding when to be patient and when to change course.
I can hardly imagine a more difficult position to be in than that of President of the United States. Mr. President, I wish you the best of luck - and the best of wisdom.
