Yesterday was incredible, wasn’t it? I was able to watch a rebroadcast of the inauguration speech later in the evening at home as we aren’t “supposed” to stream at the office else face the possibility of a serious flogging. I know it happens all the time, but I’ll keep that between you and me and the fencepost. Bandwidth issues aside, the inauguration speech was beautifully well spoken as is customary for Mr. Obama. Support his politics or not, I’ve yet to find a single person who can deny his abilities as an orator. What a courageous man, he just seems to ooze integrity in my eyes. There seems to be this sense that finally, perhaps American’s can look to the future with promise of positive outcome, rather then fear and shame. Maybe now we can begin to rebuild, at least there’s that hope now. Which is about all any of us can ask for at this point, it’s a start. Bless you Mr. Obama, be well.
January 20th 2009 brought about another defining moment for me. In the waiting room yesterday, surrounded by pregnant women of all stages and ethnicities and ages and socio-economic levels I was blinded-sided by just how miraculous the female is, how all of our complexities some how come together as one to become this being capable of bringing life into this world and sustaining it from our own bodies. This immediately brought me back to the responsibilities women bare simply because they can become pregnant and how that beautiful gift can become a burden. No doubt, having the right to choose when and/or if a woman becomes pregnant was a prominent factor in the women’s rights movement and while we know there have been ways to control pregnancy for thousands of years, having it out there in public as a basic human right makes this choice all the more empowering. All I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you to those women who fight for me to have the very right to choose what I want for my body and my life. I am forever indebted to you. The beauty of being a mother, of how our bodies radiate warmth and sensuality, how truly astonishing the female body is….none of this is lost on me, I celebrate it regularly. But I also celebrate my freedoms regularly as well and being knee deep in pregnant woman and visiting this specialist to help me protect my own body in the same office made me realize that these freedoms should never be taken for granted. It might be wise for me to consider this when thinking of where I’d like to put my volunteering energies because I was pretty overcome by the entire experience and I never want our daughters to go without this option. Hopefully, Obama’s administration will help halt the assault on woman’s rights and bring forth a new era of protecting us rather then trying to strip away our rights one sneaky bill at a time.
This morning, as I was taking Max to school, the streets were misted and a little dewed. It was beautiful. It’s January 21st 2009, not April 21st 2009 and though I’d like to just enjoy the forecast of 72 degree’s today and take a walk in the park and feel the sun on my skin, I cannot because I know as someone who’s lived in Colorado for more than half her life that this is entirely too warm for January. It’s happened before, but only in the last 15 years and only once. I don’t think I am being hysterical or exaggerating the issue, we all know what’s happening, yet I personally feel helpless to stop it other then by doing my part which seems like not enough. I know many feel this way and choose to do nothing. This thinking surely is partly why our planet is fighting to survive at this point and I’m left wondering what can be done to educate the masses and get the message out that we’ve already done irreparable damage. We don’t have the luxury of time to “fix’ these problems, we have to start living differently now and I think in order to make that happen it has to come from the top. Legislation has to happen to force people to change because so many can’t or won’t do it on their own.
Easily, I could go on about the challenges our culture faces. On and on. But my heart has been lightened considerabley, Obama has a full plate. We all do. But maybe we can tackle it together now as a world community.
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