doug mills (nytimes)
I saw the first day of celebrations for Obama's inauguration on tv tonight. I'm so glad Allie got a text from her friend telling us to tune in. Despite the dutch subtitles, I felt like I was standing with the 750, 000 people in front of the Lincoln memorial crying my eyes out as Bono sang "In the Name of Love" with the Edge and the band jamming away. And then Bono said something like "... let freedom reign.. in every village, every palace, every city... and this is not just an American dream, it's an Irish dream, a European dream, an Israeli dream, .......... and a palestinian dream!"
It was so powerful seeing beautiful diversity pouring off and on the stage... and in that moment I knew and felt that God was getting the glory. The whole celebration was not about Obama (well, for me it wasn't)... but gospel choir after choir, country music singers, rappers, pop artists, opera singers, actors quoting American leaders like ML King, JF Kennedy, Roosevelt, and on and on. It was like a look back at the beautiful aspects of history, the parts I'm not embarrassed by, and what I see as glimpses of God's beauty and His wisdom through the words of some of the country's past leaders. I had a moment. And I thoroughly reveled in it!
