Choose our best history

Posted on January 21, 2009 by bipolarlawyercook| 9 Comments

I stood in the kitchen at work with every­one else in my office– lawyers, part­ners, para­le­gals, assis­tants– watch­ing the innau­gu­ra­tion and Pres­i­dent Obama’s speech and feel­ing stern and jubiliant and proud and a wel­ter of things I don’t know I’d call hope.  But I’d call it relief.  I don’t think the speech is going down in the rhetor­i­cal speech hall of fame,  but was it timely and did it set the right tone?  Absolutely.  The con­cept embod­ied in “choose our best his­tory,” how­ever, really struck me.  Act from the best, the most eth­i­cal, the most prin­ci­pled, the most hard-working parts of who we are.  Don’t be com­pla­cent.  Don’t ignore our own found­ing prin­ci­ples.  It was a call to recall what it can really mean to be an Amer­i­can– if we choose our best history.

The Boston Globe’s Big Pic­ture Blog has some won­der­ful pho­tos from yes­ter­day that are taken all over the U.S. and the world.  The Mis­soula, MT ( # 22) and Bagh­dad ( #19) pho­tos are my favorites, I think.

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9 Responses to Choose our best history

  1. Jenn @ Juggling Life | January 22, 2009 at 12:02 am |

    I loved #19. Thanks–these were great.

    Jenn @ Jug­gling Lifes last blog post..Sixth Folder/Sixth Picture

  2. Prof. J | January 22, 2009 at 12:49 am |

    Won­der­ful pho­tos. Won­der­ful thoughts.

    Prof. Js last blog post..Dinah-saur

  3. Adena | January 22, 2009 at 10:14 am |

    beau­ti­ful post, and the pho­tos are AMAZING! thanks for link­ing to them!

    Ade­nas last blog post..Some­thing I don’t have to worry about

  4. g | January 22, 2009 at 10:24 am |

    Won­der­ful photos.

    gs last blog post..Play­ing hooky

  5. Kristen | January 22, 2009 at 11:28 am |

    Thanks for the link!

  6. Mary Ann | January 22, 2009 at 5:23 pm |

    Loved that! Thanks! Please note that in photo #25, I believe that Michelle and Laura are wear­ing the same shoes. Do you think they called each other before­hand and were all, “So what are you wear­ing to the inauguration?”

  7. therapydoc | January 22, 2009 at 11:05 pm |

    I agree, all of the above. Aside from a few key phrases, the speech could’ve been bet­ter. Poor guy’s gotta’ be burnt out. But he’s a writer. We’re in for some good ones.

    ther­a­py­docs last blog post..The Diary

  8. nyjlm | January 23, 2009 at 4:34 pm |

    I espe­cially love the pho­tos of peo­ple watch­ing in other coun­tries.
    I don’t want to let go of this excited, hope­ful, opti­mistic feeling!

    #26 was taken by a high school and col­lege friend of mine.

    nyjlms last blog post..Recy­cling and Repurposing

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