Happy day

***I started writing this the 22nd of January, and have really struggled to find the words to describe it all. I still think it's inadequate, but I also feel like I can't really hold off on it much longer. So, here it is, on the 28th, with all its imperfections: my attempt to share what I experienced on 20 January 2009.***


We have a new president. I was reading the headlines online today and it struck me that "President" no longer means "George W. Bush"; it means "Barack Obama". Man, I have been waiting for this day for ages, it seems, and it's finally here. It happened, and I'm still trying to get my head around it all.

First of all, we went. A group of about ten of us from Eastern went down to my parents' house and went into the city on Tuesday. I could talk about the logistics of it: the hours of travel, the lines to get on metro, the free buses, and the helpfulness of Metro staff, and I guess I just did, but that's not the point. We saw (albeit on the jumbo-tron) Yo-Yo Ma, Aretha Franklin (and her bow), Beyonce, and Jay-Z, but that is also not the point.
The point isn't, as some wanted to make us believe, that George W. Bush was out of office.

The point, at least for me, is that the city was flooded with people from all over the nation - from all over the WORLD! - to see history being made. As a nation, we have elected a man who is nothing like any other President before him. He is not a Washington insider, not an old white man from a political family, not the easy choice. The poignancy was undeniable as he took the oath of office the day after we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr.; the nation's first black President. And there were over a million people there to see it happen. There was a unity in that crowd that I've never before experienced outside of church. There was a sense of hope and this swelling of pride that we, as a nation, might possibly become what we'd always hoped we could be.



This is a dark time in this country, and it has been for a long time, I think. September 11th really rocked our sense of self; our sense of justice and security and all that is right. It turned the country on its head, and I think that as a nation we've been reeling from that for the past seven-plus years. I remember being on my way to Panamá when the war in Iraq started, and going back to Panamá the day of the infamous "Mission Accomplished" speech - let's just say that in the six years since then, my own perception of my country has changed, and our image abroad has, too. I'm not saying that it's exclusively Bush's fault, because I think that there were several issues that led to this phenomenon, but it feels like there might be hope to make the US more like what we'd like her to be. Does that make sense?



I mean, I am not the most patriotic person - wait. That's kind of what I'm trying to say. There has been a narrowing of what it means to be patriotic, and it's not the first time in our history that it's happened. My particular brand of patriotism involves a critical look at our nation, at our shortcomings and sins, and the courage to dream of something better for this country. Something like mercy and justice and inclusion and grace. And standing on that mall in that crush of people, I felt like I wasn't alone in that hope. Standing there, in that crowd of a million plus, I thought: "This is what democracy is about; this is what it feels like to believe that your voice has been heard. This is what it's like to believe that the people of a nation can truly bring change."
I think this is what Barack Obama has been about: about bringing the outsiders in, about opening the lines of dialogue so that it's not just a select few who can say what's what in Washington. I hope and pray that it's something that he can carry through his presidency. He has started a movement that I hope continues.
There's this: as I watched Barack Obama take that oath, I felt, for the first time since I left elementary school, that I really can make it. I felt like this really is the land of opportunity. Here's this man who looks nothing like any president before him, who's been on the outside, who's young and brash and different, and HE MADE IT. This nation chose him. I can't even explain the kind of hope that gives me as a Latina, that someday my children, with all their differences might dream those same big dreams and see them come to pass; that they won't have to assimilate and speak only English and straighten and dye their hair to make it. It makes me feel like this really is MY America, too.



There are some who will say I'm being melodramatic, and maybe I am, but that's what I felt on the Mall on January 20th. There was a sense of unity and hope and pride (in its best form) in the city that day, and it made my heart full. I pray that Barack Obama would lead with that same hope and unity that I felt that day.

Ungodly Hubris....

We were talking in class yesterday about the role of the prophet and decided that prophets, both in the Bible and in the present day (MLK, Jr. was mentioned) are men and women who challenge the status quo, confront God's people with His truth and their shortcomings, and provide a greater vision. There's an identification with the plight of the poor and oppressed - a partaking in that pain - heart break on behalf of the people. There's a challenge to hold ungodly rulers and systems accountable to a just and righteous God.

So that was yesterday; Tuesday, our Urban Politics prof read us this article from USA Today which I feel touches on the prophetic elements outlined above.

This is not your typical "God-bless-America-and-the-Republican-Party" Christianity people show on tv (I hate that depiction...). It's a more biblically-based faith. One that points out the flaws of the nation and the church. There were many points that resonated with me, but I'll highlight a few:

Pop taught me that true patriotism is not a contest to see who can fly the biggest flag. True patriotism exists where citizens love their country enough to hold it accountable. That means working to make certain that the president we have elected and the government we have created live up to the words of our creeds and the dreams of our poets and prophets.

That kind of patriotism is at the heart of authentic biblical faith. The great prophets of the Bible were considered unpatriotic by many of their day.

I love this. I love it because I do love this nation; I've travelled a bit - mostly in the developing world - and can honestly say, though I love the socialist tendencies of Europe, this is truly a country with the potential to be great. This country gave my family and so many of my friends the opportunities we didn't have available in our own countries. (Not that I'm not passionate about the beauty of Puerto Rico, just that I know I have more opportunities here.) This is one of the greatest countries to be a woman, in spite of the glaring inequalities and failures. It's a country that acknowledges the handicapped, racial and ethnic minorities, and sexual minorities. Not that things are perfect, just that we are light years ahead of other countries.
That said, I can criticize the obvious failures and the half-ass job we've done on many issues because of my love for this country. I believe it can be more and it can be better, and that is why I am not okay with the current mediocrity and all out fracas. That is patriotism: to ask that my government make this the best country it can be, and not the one that will appease the greatest numbers. Shake things up; change the nation.

Which brings me to point number two: We are not the greatest nation on earth, but we'd sure like to think that we are.

Part of our challenge stems from the fact that we Americans have an overabundance of self-confidence. So much, in fact, that management guru Marshall Goldsmith reports that 70% of the 50,000 people he has surveyed rank themselves in the top 10% of their peer group. Among doctors, pilots and investment bankers, the number is even higher. Once when Goldsmith told a group of doctors that his "extensive research" had revealed that exactly half of all MDs graduated in the bottom half of their med-school class, two in the audience insisted that this was impossible.

I suspect we read the Bible much the same way. We don't identify with the Egyptians, Babylonians or the multitude of Israelites who worshipped the golden calf. We identify with Abraham and Moses the good guys. Likewise, in the New Testament, we don't identify with the scribes and the Pharisees. And we certainly don't identify with those hated Romans. We identify with Peter, James and John. But like Marshall Goldsmith's overweening physicians, we might be fooling ourselves. Look beneath the surface, and much of what's plaguing the world is what's plaguing us.

I hate when I'm traveling and I run into the proverbial "Ugly American". He's the guy at McDonald's in freakin' Germany where the food is so unbelievably good that McDonald's should be classified as a crime against gastronomy. He's the guy who tries to pay for everything in dollars and doesn't understand why people (a) won't take his money and (b) don't speak English like they should. These are the people that tell the locals that George W. Bush is a wonderful diplomat and that they don't understand why the international community can't back the United States. They don't know why "they hate us".
They hate us because we (as a nation) are greedy and arrogant and, worst of all, ignorant of our greed and arrogance.

The church, sadly, does the same thing. I blame the media for part of this, because they do tend to focus on the crazy fringes of the faith, but I've been around in this aspect as well. There are some ignorant church folks out there. Anyway, here's the thing: we're always preaching against the Pharisees and the Egyptians while we turn away those who don't conform to our rules and exploit the most vulnerable people both here and overseas. We are a self-righteous and often insular body.


For the past few months, I've really been identifying with the Pharisees; I've been identifying with all the failures of the prophets and the disciples (not as much with their successes, but maybe someday). I've been seeing my own brokenness and limitations in some very real ways. It's good; I mean, it sucks, but it's good for me.

I think it's a good thing on grander scales: the church and the nation. It's time to start looking at those broken places and recognizing that we. Need. Help.

We can no longer be those smug, self-righteous folks who have it all together; the wars and the economic crisis should be making that clear. We need to start reaching out, asking for forgiveness in our flawed foreign and domestic policies, and moving towards something better, no matter who wins the election.