The Spirit of an American Citizen: Reflected through the words of President Obama’s Inauguration Speech

I was greatly moved while watching the 44^th President’s Inauguration. Never before have I ever been so wrapped up in our Nation as of this moment. President Obama’s speech was powerful and moving. In an over-crowded room of 100 or so people there was silence and tears. He filled us with hope-hope that a brighter tomorrow will be reached. However it will only be reached if we take up the burden of rebuilding our nation together. No one man can solve all of our problems, but a good leader can encourage us to take up our a role in making a reality.

This post is written in past-tense third person because I was trying to give it an artistic feel.

To Lee for helping me realize that I have found a purpose.

The decision to join the Peace Corps in 2007 was a difficult one. The task that lay before this recent college graduate was too profound to put into words. She was a graduate with a potentially prosperous career in her chosen field due to an extensive effort on her behalf that was to gain all the experience possible before entering the ‘real world.’ Each of her post-university decisions was just as broad and vague as the next one and all of them were empty.

An emptiness due to a lack of real service-a service that provided an experience, a new beginning that would allow room to grow and explore. The United States of America had always been a quiet room with a side window to the outside world. The outside world was a place that couldn't have been previously explored due to economical hardships. Here was her chance to break free of the mutinous workforce, forge forward into the unknown, into her new purpose.

"As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages.

We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment — a moment that will define a generation — it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all."

The chosen road led her to a life of service. Serving others was something bigger than her. It was bigger than the salaried job in the big city with the nice car where she could have attended fancy parties and mingled with so-called important people. Instead she served those who were considered to be less fortunate than the rest of the world. Yet after careful reflection that truth lays in the minds of those who measure life by the tangible not the intangible because the Africans couldn’t wrap their minds around the Americans' hatred of others nor why war was their only answer for things unknown. The intangible things of love, unity, and true day-to-day happiness didn’t exist in her world prior to this experience. Her willingness to find meaning allowed her to find true purpose in life.

"For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies.

It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate."

As an American her duties did not stop at the shorelines of the East or West. Her hope in a better world fueled her passion for Peace Corps. It was the selflessness of the Malians who gave food and shelter to a stranger; the love of other volunteers and counterparts that encouraged and comforted throughout the uncertain moments which saw her through the darkest hours.

The fate of her life was known before the dawn of time. It was to come to African soil so that she could find true meaning in her life; find out what it means to be a true American.

"Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, 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."

Her many challenges before Peace Corps did not end and have not been resolved but a new strength and hope was discovered. The values that were slipping away during her college years were slowly renewed-honesty and hard work, courage and tolerance-while others were realized for the first time-loyalty and patriotism. She was a citizen of the United States of America. She was a daughter, sister, cousin, granddaughter, niece, and friend before she was a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali, West Africa. She was a southerner, Christian, and loud-mouthed. All of these were characteristics of this young woman, yes a woman, but they did not define who she was. The new values gave her hope in her fellow citizens. It provided her with the courage to believe in a better world that would lean on each other and not hurt one another.

The truths of her reality, such as family problems and lack of money, didn’t hold her back but spur her on! Into the direction of the rising sun! A place where she could spread her wings-no limitations and no regrets. She was finally able to rely on herself and God to define her character and determine a path.

"This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence — the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny."

Now, Holly is shaping her uncertain destiny through God by serving others-her fellow citizens and the citizens of the world.

Special thanks to http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090120/ap_on_go_pr_wh/inauguration_obama_text

for providing the text for President Obama's Inauguration speech.