Dear Source:
More than two million people crowded into Washington D.C for President Barack Obama's inauguration. Millions more watched the ceremonies from public places. Masses of people were on the streets from Harlem to Times Square, Indonesia, Hawaii, Japan and Africa. They crowed in hotels, restaurants, bars and makeshift areas with large screen televisions. Guess what, I bet more than 90 percent of these people have jobs. Millions of people all around the world thought it was important enough for them to take one day off from their jobs and celebrate this historic occasion. And yes, it is an historic occasion, even if some feel the election of the first African-American president is "much to do about nothing."
I would like to bet most who are grumbling about government workers having the day off, do not even work for the government. Yes, there are some government workers that do not put 100 percent into the performance of their jobs, but there are many that do. Some people just want to take every opportunity to express their distaste for government workers.
One day off is not going to break the governments' bank. We need to look toward the future and slough off the old negativity. We need to concentrate on the ideals of community involvement, being empathetic toward others needs and beliefs. We need to support each other instead of constantly tearing each other down.
I know this election is not only about the first elected black president. I know it is about the new era that this man of many heritages, this man of a more tolerant and more inclusive mindset, will bring. President Obama is one who would have never let the residents of New Orleans suffer as they did, one who will reach out to governments and world powers like never before because of how he was raised–not in a bubble, separated from people who are not like him–but feeling, and being a part of a global community.
For most, it is not enough to live in a racially diverse society, because for all their pronouncements they never truly integrate with the multicultural society in which they live. I look to President Obama to show America how it really is to embrace everyone equally. That is what I hope is the legacy he leaves with the American people and with the world.
"Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends–honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism–these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility–a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task." President Barack H. Obama in his inauguration speech.
Elizabeth "Liz" Sutton
Frederiksted, St. Croix
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