Why I Did Not Attend the Inauguration...And Have No Regrets
It's Saturday so I'm going off topic....
I read and collect history books. I love the History channel, PBS and ESPN Classic (hey that's history too!). I've personally kept Ken Burns in the business of making documentaries about jazz, baseball and war. I've even sat around wondering what folks like Socrates and Voltaire would have done with social media. So, needless to say I'm a big history buff... I mean BIG. And I can't think of a more historical occasion in my lifetime than the inauguration of the first African-American POTUS.
Now I wasn't planning on attending the inauguration. I'm not one for crowds, and I know what the weather is like "up north" in DC this time of year. But when my friends at IBM, Marilyn Johnson and Wand McKenzie, invited me to attend their day long inauguration event my excitement to be apart of history overwhelmed my dislike of large crowds and cold weather. And as excited as I was, my parents were even more excited.
You see, my parents grew up in south Georgia during the 1930's and '40s - a time when trying to vote could get you killed. And the mere thought of having a black president may have landed you in the insane asylum. Theirs is the generation that marched, sat in, stood up and had dreams of days when content of character meant more the color of skin. Many were the first in their families to get college degrees in spite of unbelievable odds, and start businesses with shoe strings (because they couldn't afford the boots to bootstrap). And they did all of this in order to make it better for the generations that followed them - people like me.
So I was set to go with my new video camera in hand to capture the moment, and do the "2.0" thing with blow-by-blow tweeting and all of that. But a funny thing happened on my way to the inauguration. My sister, brother-in-law and youngest nephew drove all the way down from Delaware to Atlanta to watch the inauguration with my parents. I knew they were coming a few weeks prior, which at the time made me feel better about heading to DC. But when they arrived I just started thinking...and thinking....and thinking... Why am I going to DC?
I have no doubt that despite the crowds, cold weather and inconvenience it would have been unbelievable to be in DC on January 20th. And being invited to attend the IBM event was a great honor, as well as a great opportunity to mix in a little power-networking and promote the new Barack 2.0 book. And let's not forget the most important thing - witnessing the swearing in of our 44th president...witnessing history. But in a one quick realization, all of that paled in comparison to witnessing history unfold from my parent's kitchen, along with my sister and her family.
And while I missed out on some amazing opportunities on that day, I did not miss the tears in my mother's eyes that welled up as she watched President Obama take the oath. I also did not miss the look of pride and bewilderment on my father's face...between the "eye resting" he usually does several times throughout the day. Or eavesdropping on my mother talking on the phone with her sisters (all in the their 80s and 90s) afterward. And I didn't miss out on hearing my mother tell the story of how her mother was turned away from voting in the 1920's and '30s, but still kept trying.
We'll all remember where we were and what we did on January 20th 2009. And I am happy for all of those who were in DC on this historic occasion. I just hope your memories mean as much to you as mine do to me. And for that, I have absolutely no regrets!
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