I'm not sure Penelope likes her Aretha Franklin-inspired hat.
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01/27/2009
01/19/2009
To Serve Man!
Like so many, I'm totally fascinated by the energy around Obama and the inauguration tomorrow. I only vaguely remember the energy around Clinton in 1992 -- I was a sophomore in high school and more focused on how much I hated the school [1] I was attending. That said, I don't think Clinton's inauguration matched Obama fever 2009. Clinton, and certainly Bush, didn't have cupcakes.
Critics mock Obama's rock star status. I like to think that people looking up and idolizing our president-elect seems like a novel change. And if a photo of our president-elect painting a wall in a homeless teen shelter can inspire people -- including myself [2] -- to get out of the house and do something good, that rocks.
This morning, I (1) saw the picture (2) looked online for places to volunteer with baby in tow (3) found a friend to go with me (4) volunteered for a couple hours at a Mori Point. We planted native plants in an effort to rebuild the habitat after quarrying and off-road vehicle use.
While digging in the dirt, I had a very profound thought: A leader needs to inspire people to make change possible. That's why Obama is like the Statue of Liberty in Ghostbusters II. As New York City is about to be destroyed by negative energy slime or something -- slime that's been building up and thriving on the negativity of New Yorkers -- the Ghostbusters realize that only mass positivity will save the day. The Statue of Liberty is the catalyst for that positivity, but it's the citizens that make it happen.
[1] For the first time in my life, I was attending public school (after a sheltered Catholic school existence) and was shocked to be surrounded by kids who brought alcohol to class in soda cans and who smoked behind the gym instead of going to class. And, of course, we had the requisite hill of hacky sack-playing stoners so perfectly described by Cher in Clueless as the folks who "sometimes come to class and say bonehead things, and we all laugh..." Clinton having these folks' fervent support only made me feel allegiance to that little Perot guy.
