Quotes for the Moment

I keep writing, inbetween (finally) reading Barack Obama's Audacity of Hope, inbetween fighting back inaugural tears ... inbetween finding wool socks and snow pants for all the children sledding down our street on this snow day ... inbetween dishes and work and making the bed ...  

I keep writing, trying to sort out our emerging transformation from the quiet, private perspective of a middle-aged woman.  A mom, wife and mid-level professional, I can think about big questions only until lunch needs to be made or phone calls returned.  It is part of our soon-to-be new President's appeal that, despite my anonymity, I will feel both part of this inauguration at noon and cared for as an American as of 12:01.  (As if on cue, as I typed that sentence I received a text from the inaugural team with DC directions, even guiding my safe travel.)  

I keep writing and I'm sure I'll be able to complete an essay at some point.  In the meantime, here are some of Mr. Obama's quotes in Audacity of Hope that have moved me.

Maybe the critics are right.  Maybe there's no escaping our great political divide, an endless clash of armies, and any attempt to alter the rules of engagement are futile ... But I don't think so.  They are out there ... those ordinary citizens who have grown up in the midst of all the political and cultural battles, but who have found a way -- in their own lives, at least -- to make peace with their neighbors, and themselves ... I believe they are waiting for a politics with the maturity to balance idealism and realism, to distinguish between what can and cannot be compromised, to admit the possibility that the other side might sometimes have a point.  They don't always understand the arguments between right and left, conservative and liberal, but they recognize the difference between dogma and common sense, responsibility and irresponsibility, between those things that last and those that are fleeting.  They are out there, waiting for Republicans and Democrats to catch up with them. pp 41-42.

If we Americans are individualistic at heart, if we instinctively chafe against a past of tribal allegiances, traditions, customs, and castes, it would be a mistake to assume that this is all we are.  Our individualism has always been bound by a set of communal values, the glue upon which every healthy society depends.  We value the imperatives of family and the cross-generational obligations that family implies.  We value community, the neighborliness that expresses itself through raising the barn or coaching the soccer team.  We value patriotism and the obligations of citizenship, a sense of duty and sacrifice on behalf of our nation.  We value a faith in something bigger than ourselves, whether that something expresses itself in formal religiong or ethical precepts.  And we value the constellation of behaviors that express our mutual regard for one another:  honesty, fairness, humility, kindness, courtesy, and compassion. p. 55.

Comments

[Bonnie]

Lovely sentiments in The Audacity of Hope. This should be his inaugural speech. I love you. Mom