Monday, January 21st, 2013 was no doubt one of the most amazing days of January 2013 to date!
I regret that I did not post a Blogtemplation on the actual date, but rest assured this post is going to cover as many thoughts about the event as I can think of at this time! I also can't let this Blogtemplation go by without a link to the speech and what better link than the Official White House Blog itself!
The Second Inauguration of Barack Obama
Inaugural Address by President Barack Obama - Official Transcript
I must share that I watched TV all morning long and listened to the speeches through to the parade coverage watching Barack and Michelle walking the route.
There were so many amazing thoughts to contemplate in the speech President Obama delivered, and I will quote a few...
"Today we continue a never-ending journey to bridge the meaning of those words
with the realities of our time. "
At the top of his speech, the second paragraph of his opening breaths, he shares the impacts of words on the reality of the present. I think this is so important! I have hopes that this website, this Blogtemplation even, sets to bring together people that ultimately have an impact on people in their present. I can agree that some documents over time have more impact than others, such as our very own Constitution and Declaration of Independance which is what the President refers to. However, the written word seems to have a transcendant quality, that each reader must make their own connection to the words they read, and sometimes those words change the lives of those readers.
To cause someone to bridge the meaning of words someone else has written with the realities of their time... How amazing is that gift? How positive and powerful could that be? I believe that writing and collecting writing with thoughts, with empowerment, and action is an endeavor worth giving energy and time to.
2,137 words and 15 minutes
I am sure there was a lot designed and contemplated into this inauguration 2013 speech, as with everyone else who was given time to speak and had a few moments of the public pulpit to share insight across American Television and internet media, however that is also what made the entire production of the day such an event to view and listen to.
Every news station had their coverage, their news casters, their analysts, and all opinions public and privately attained for their stations.
Alas, I am no more than one more opinion and writer of contemplative thought about the inclusive unfolding speeches and events of the Inauguration and simultaneously celebrating Martin Luther King Day wrapped into one.
"America’s possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that
this world without boundaries demands: youth and drive; diversity and
openness; an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention. My fellow
Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it -- so long as we
seize it together. "
How true this passage is from roughly 7 or 8 stanzas into the speech, the President delivers a feeling that I believe is the new social stage of the american society. I think it is with this confirmation of empowerment, that I have even come to create this website and suggest that a writing commununity together can have an impact to action and positive action at that! I am so inspired, which I clearly understand inauguration speeches tend to do, to push forward in my own resolve to write to this Blogtemplation and pursue the hope of one day seeing a community grow from this first step of organization.
"That is our generation’s task -- to make these words, these rights, these values
of life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness real for every American.
Being true to our founding documents does not require us to agree on every
contour of life. It does not mean we all define liberty in exactly the same way
or follow the same precise path to happiness. Progress does not compel us to
settle centuries-long debates about the role of government for all time, but it
does require us to act in our time."
On strong and bounding notes to tie America together, the President outlines the task of unity and individuality within that unity as well. I am happy to be in parallel with this passage; that this writing community, which I hope to see become an identity in and of itself beyond which I have started, will be not one that always agrees with each other, but writes to share and express different thoughts and contemplations. That action is part of the progress forward shared in those words. I would even suggest to day that Progress does not compel us to settle centuries-long debates period, or that it could be an open ended "fill-in-the-blank" type phrase suggesting we are not compelled to settle century long debates about anything, but rather progress means that we do the same thing this passage ends with and that is, "but it does require us to act in our time."
I am growing more and more energized to put action into my time. I believe I am required to act in my time, that you are required to act in your time, and we can act in our time.
I can contemplate and continue on about the speech of the inauguration, and days will follow and more blogtemplations will appear.
I leave you though, with as best a closing as I could not write, but was written and delivered already about this amazing Inauguration celebration.
"They are the words of citizens and they represent our greatest hope. You
and I, as citizens, have the power to set this country’s course. You and I, as
citizens, have the obligation to shape the debates of our time -- not only with
the votes we cast, but with the voices we lift in defense of our most ancient
values and enduring ideals.
Let us, each of us, now embrace with solemn duty and awesome joy what is
our lasting birthright. With common effort and common purpose, with passion
and dedication, let us answer the call of history and carry into an uncertain
future that precious light of freedom.
Thank you. God bless you, and may He forever bless these United States of
America." - President Barack Obama January 21, 2013
- The Establishment