sanity and an anniversary

Today is the day that America regains its sanity. Today is also the 20th anniversary of my arriving in America. Both are the reason why I once again post the following from Lisa Goldstein's The Red Magician...

They climbed up the ramp to the ship. It was already filled with American soldiers returning home. They ran to the railing, and Kicsi thought how odd it was that they were all so anxious to get a last look at the land they were leaving. Vörös's hair was a small dot of color among the people on the dock. He waved at her.

The ship left the dock. She waved back to him and continued to wave until he was out of sight. The coastline faded as slowly as a smile fade.

She turned and looked to the west, to America.

44

I just finished watching Obama's Inauguration speech here on MSNBC's site. It was a good speech, and I especially liked the parts about the makers of things and how "...we will restore science to its rightful place..."

Before I watched the speech, I celebrated the day with my DVD of 1951's The Day The Earth Stood Still. Why? When I saw that photo of Barack and Michelle this morning, with the Lincoln Memorial in the background, it occurred to me that this was a most appropriate movie. And how far the country has gone, when it was probably daring for the film to show black people as part of a crowd and not as part of the domestic staff.

Had the people of 1951 been told that, today, a black man would become our President, no one would have believed it. Things change. Things can become better.