We got to the Mall early in the morning. It was a bit cold, but the trick was to keep moving around to stay warm. However as the day progressed that got harder and harder; as the people poured in by the thousands. People came from everywhere. Oh, yes there were those from Maryland, and Virginia, and DC, itself, but there were those from Maine and Ohio, and Texas, and North Carolina, and probably every state in the union. And as the Mall kept filling up with happy, smiling faces, I found myself not only tearing up a bit, but openly crying. They said there were 2 million people there today, and I wish I could've hugged every one of them. We had been here so many times in the past 8 years to voice our displeasures, I wasn't sure there would ever be a day like today. If I live to be 100, I don't think I will ever forget anything about this day.
I will now be able to view the White House in a totally different light. It is not the home of the enemy anymore, but it is now friendly territory. I know this sounds harsh, but I find that this is how I feel at this point in my life. Perhaps some time in the future I will look at it differently. We shall see.
But for now, I can't help but see George Bush's White House as one with an office holder who cheated his way into that house, being there only because five judges stopped a vote count. I see his White House as the home of a man who lied us into a war. It is a place where torture of prisoners is condoned. It houses the man that let New Orleans drown. It is a place where science is degraded, so that global warming continues to get worse and worse, threatening the future of our entire planet and stem cell research is shunned. Hence life saving, and life altering advances in medicine are slowed And. maybe. most of all, it is a place that degraded our constitution, and tried to strip us of our rights and liberties.
We have been given a new beginning in America, and, yes, the hard work is still to come, but I am very optimistic about the future. I am certain we are back on the right track. However we will always need to remain vigilant; making sure that we don't get off that track again.
I am so very happy to have my country back again. Welcome home America, I missed you very much, and I'm never going to allow you to go away again.