January 2009 Archives

I just wanted to pause to note two small moments that occurred as we watched the inauguration unfold on TV as a family on Tuesday.

This day stands as a rebuke to all who doubt the power of words.  And on this defining day, I was struck again by the power of words spoken to inspire, transform, evoke, and celebrate.  Here are some I found most poignant:

Those who doubt the supremacy of the ballot over the bullet can never diminish the power engendered by nonviolent struggles for justice and equality like the one that made this day possible.

--From Diane Feinstein's Welcoming Remarks

Say it plain, that many have died for this day. Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of.

--From Elizabeth Alexander's Inaugural Poem, Praise Song for the Day

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

--From President Barack Obama's 1st Inaugural

This particular passage evoked for me the words of James Baldwin who said that to achieve nationhood requires "the growing up of this dangerously adolescent country." I hear in it the very real possibility of the mature politics of which I wrote here almost a year ago.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.  Our founding fathers faced with perils that we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake.

...

To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict or blame their society's ills on the West, know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.

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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.

--From President Barack Obama's 1st Inaugural

Let me end this evocation of the words spoken today by gesturing to the way Obama's suggestion that the ideals of America "still light the world" resonate with these words about love from Alexander's poem:

What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance.

In today's sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.

On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp -- praise song for walking forward in that light.

And these, from the Reverend Joseph Lowery's beautiful benediction:

And now, Lord, in the complex arena of human relations, help us to make choices on the side of love, not hate; on the side of inclusion, not exclusion; tolerance, not intolerance.

And as we leave this mountaintop, help us to hold on to the spirit of fellowship and the oneness of our family. Let us take that power back to our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our temples, our mosques or wherever we seek your will.

I woke, this much anticipated morning, to the news of the death of a colleague.  Professor Paul Lyons taught history, social work and holocaust studies for 29 years at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, where I began my academic career. He was a man dedicated to social justice and committed to teaching young people to think critically about the world and to orient their lives toward the question of justice.

Paul's response to the attacks on September 11, 2001 was powerful: he collaborated with his fellow Stockton professor David Emmons to teach a course on the event.  The power of this response lies in the thoughtful and expansive influence it has on future generations.  In the wake of oversimplified, dogmatic rhetoric, Paul responded with a depth of historical understanding and a passion to engage students directly about an event that changed the course of our lives.

So, this morning, as we our attention to the future with the inauguration of the first black president, I also pause to remember all those teachers, like Paul Lyons, committed to orienting young people toward justice and opening the possibility of this moment.

In a short but powerful speech from the Lincoln Memorial, Barack Obama stood where King had stood and offered a powerful rejoinder to some of those most powerful words King spoke 46 years ago.  Where King spoke of a country where his children "will not be not judged by the color of their skin by the content of their character," Obama spoke of "the true character of our nation" that is "not revealed not during times of comfort and ease, but by the right we do when the moment is hard."

The shift from the individual to the community is critical and is made, no doubt, in the spirit of King's belief that we are all bound together into a community in which injustice to one effects justice for all.  To summon this spirit of community, on that spot, at this moment is to begin to turn us toward our best selves.

And if you listen, perhaps you can hear King's rejoinder to Obama's sober recognition that "There is not doubt our road will be long.  That our climb will be steep" -- for King said:

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low ...

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.

King was right that he would not get to the mountaintop with us, nor are we there yet, but we are closer and with continuing work and encouraging words, ever higher we will climb.

Just before the new year, we took Chloe and Hannah to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Chloe, who is obsessed with everything that has to do with art, was beside herself with excitement.

Once I told her that artists sometimes bring a sketch book to sketch the works of great art in the museum, she insisted on bringing one.

Below are a few examples of her work in the light of some of the European masters:
Above (left), Chloe takes inspiration from Vincent Van Gogh's famous Sunflowers painted in1888 or 1889.
Above (right), Chloe depicts Léon Frédéric's The Four Seasons (Autumn) from 1894.
Finally, Chloe drew Cézanne's 1873 Quartier Four, Auvers-sur-Oise (Landscape, Auvers).