Leah Katz-Hernandez: Obama's Inauguration

TRANSCRIPT:

Leah Katz-Hernandez: I just saw Barack Obama’s Inauguration. I actually had a ticket with me to the Inauguration but it was so crowded and packed with people – it was really amazing. It was so bad that I happened upon my professor who had been waiting to get into the Mall area since 5:30 AM, yet she still couldn’t get in. As for me, I went to the place at 9 AM. I battled the crowds and made it all the way to the metal gates. I was right there, I was so close. But it closed. It was finished, I couldn’t enter. Undeterred, I looked around and saw people gathering near the large glass windows of a hotel. They had a television inside. I went up to the glass... It was just perfect, it was at the exact moment when Obama got up and held up his hand. I looked at him, transfixed. He spoke the oath. And the all of sudden, I could hear – feel – the boom, boom, and boom of the 21 salutes. It hit all of us. As we felt the vibrations of booms, the people just looked at each other... and we cheered, pure happiness was in the air, some people cried, and many did the victory fist-bump. I just stood there and looked around. I knew that it was truly official that Obama had become our President. I felt deeply inspired. I was watching the Inauguration through a window. The window reflected a man in my line of vision, and the television behind the window. I could see Obama in the TV past the window. And the reflection showed a man standing near me. The Capitol was behind him. I looked at it symbolically: The man was standing there with a little boy in front of him waving an American flag. The face of Obama on TV was melded through the reflection in the chest of that man standing near me, with the Capitol behind him. I could just so strongly see the symbolic significance of that image. It’s like Obama is really inside all of us. Everyone, all of us. What he represents – hope, the ability to prosper, and the values of American ideals. Those ideals truly are above all of us, what we all aspire to. I stood there, I thought to myself, today’s a special, historical day. But we should take a pause and reflect about what’s so deeply sacred to us: The American Dream. It’s now more real than ever. Now nothing is impossible. From now on, anything is possible. I just felt so deeply touched. I can’t really describe it in words. But at the same time – that image was perfect – Obama is inside all of us. We all are like Obama in our own ways. And that’s truly wonderful and dear... Thank you.