what were you doing on january 20, 2009?

There are innumerable moments in your life where you feel hopelessly disconnected from the rest of the world. Then there are those few instances you can be sure to look back on twenty years down the road and everyone you speak to will know exactly what they were doing at the time. What were you doing on August 31, 1997? I was writing in my journal at 3:00 AM, as I watched the news broadcasting the mangled wreck of cars in a tunnel in Paris. What were you doing on September 11, 2001? I was woken up from my bunk loft with a shrill cry to turn on the news.

What were you doing on January 20, 2009? Actually, for me, it will be January 21, 2009. I was mildly surprised by an aging George Bush. I laughed as I always do upon viewing Bill Clinton's mischievous visage. I yearned for home as the camera panned out to reveal the the Washington Monument and White House. I felt the heaviness of disappointment as the crowds booed George W. Bush, agreeing with the commentators as they despondently stated, "Poor form." I did a double take at Nancy Pelosi's wide eyes and oddly frozen smile. I wriggled uncomfortably at Rick Warren's ill-fitting presiding prayer. I listened in rapt awe as our first black president pragmatically stated the country's dire situation and appealed for a sense of responsibility and duty rather than an attitude of entitlement. It's unbelievable what an amazing orator Barack Obama is.

"But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true."