A new dawn...

I was up early most days this week.  There was that work thing, but on Tuesday I woke up early, excited about the new possibilities, of a new dawn for our country.  And I was not disappointed as we as Americans swore on a new president.  Peacefully, and a president, in many ways, like none of the 43 that preceded him.   And certainly different than the one came immediately before him.

There are so many milestones and changes that have been met by Obama's taking of the Oath of Office, that being the first African American to do so may end up to be the least significant.  It was a sobering speech, but one that we needed, as a country, to hear.   I am as inspired as I am scared by the mountains that are before us.  But I like the idea of a leader who says "yes we can" and is more inclusive about who the "we" is.  It is really all of us who have to face these challenges.

I am optimistic about facing, meeting, and then conquering these challenges.  I am not too Polly Anne-ish about being able to do this quickly.  I suspect that it will take several years, and there will be low times before high times.  Of that I am certain.  But there are several things that convinced me that "yes, we can."  First was incredible amount of interest in the happenings i Washington.  Two million people who cared enough to witness even the little slice of history that they might have been able to see.  My friend who was there said that she said that she could feel that she was at a place where history was being made.  Our internet server was at the college was the slowest it had ever been because so many people were "streaming" the ceremony on their computer.  Reports about TV and internet viewership noted record numbers no matter the venue.  People care, people are interested, people are convinced, no matter how much they have to do, that yes, yes we can.

Those are more obvious signs that should convince me, and two unknown heros also help convince me that we can.  The first is a student in my class.  She is bright, interested student, and I am sure that she has thought that I was critical of her point of view, too critical of her and for that I feel badly.  In reality, I have never been more proud of a student.  She asked the key question in the class, the one that I dream of students asking. She asked essentially "why should be look at our leaders of the past so critically?"  Certainly she thought that I/the class was being too focused on the negatives of Andrew Jackson and she was in some ways correct.  But the teachable moment, and the reason she is a hero to me is that she asked the question and started the difficult conversation.  We will have hundreds and thousands of difficult conversations, conversations that question the past leadership of our country as well as our certitude that WE have the right answer.  But after eight years of not asking those tough questions we will have to now.  That one student began the discussion does make me believe that this is all possible.

The second hero came out of left field.  I have told you that at times I have had some challenges at work.  OK, more than some!  (-:  Certainly one of those has been my interactions with the faculty.  There are many reasons for that, way too many for here, but probably most are caused by neither of us knowing the other all that well.  The senior faculty have been here a while.  I have not.  I suppose that there is some of "he/they doesn't/don't know/understand/appreciate/know what I know."   But I like them and do want to understand them.  One in particular, one of the most senior and respected of all that I work with, brightened my perspective.  On Tuesday, he was responding to an article about faculty tenure and faculty hiring, very contentious topic on any college campus.  After a thoughtful comment, he essentially said, "I don't know about you, but I am proud/happy to be an American today."  He summed up what I have thought about a great deal since the election.  I have been to Europe seven times since George Bush had been elected, and for the first time, as I plan another trip, this is the first time since 2001 that I can really say that, too.  No more pretending that I am Canadian!  But he summed it up with that one line that he was able to write, even when talking about the most difficult of topics.  We can be proud and be happy to be Americans.  It will be difficult.  But, as they say, "yes we can, yes we can."