Inaugural Moments
1/23/2009Once again one of our journalism bloggers, Natalie Tolomeo, has captured beautifully a moment on campus that seemed to capture all of us. Here's her story. http://domininet.blogspot.com/2009/01/inauguration-viewings-result-in-large.html
Natalie has asked me how I felt watching President Obama's inauguration. I think it was this: I found myself filled with a renewal of faith in the human condition. I was remembering a New York Times piece last Sunday, in which Katharine Seelye reminded us that "The inaugural itself will be at the Capitol, which was built by slaves who baked the bricks, sawed the timber and laid the stone for its foundation. When Mr. Obama delivers his Inaugural Address, he will be looking out across the National Mall, which was once a slave market, beyond the White House, also built by slaves, to the Lincoln Memorial, honoring the president who freed the slaves."
I guess while watching Obama I was also thinking in theological terms, about sin and redemption, about the tension between the already and not-yet, which is precisely the place at which we find ourselves, but how it's a better place when, from time to blessed time, we find ourselves feeling closer to the destination we envision, closer to our highest ideals and deepest convictions, when we have a sense that profound evils can be confronted and maybe even undone and overcome, incrementally.
I was also thinking, during that speech, of another NY Times piece I'd read the day before, by Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., in which he reflected on his personal experience at Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s last actual birthday. King and Jackson and their colleagues had a quick bite of birthday cake that day, then it was right back to work! Right back to rolling up their sleeves because there was just still so much to do, so far yet to travel. And that day, it was only King's 39th birthday. Alas.
When I watched Obama I let myself feel that we were inching forward, that there was indeed a slice of something to celebrate, but that it was, after all, time to get back to work.
I was reminded as well of a story I'd read, in which Obama was talking about some of his favorite books, like Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, which happens to be the common text all our freshmen read in their first semester seminar. Obama loves Shakespeare, Dubois, Melville, Augustine, Morrison, Kierkegaard, Wright and so many others we teach with and learn from at Dominican. Obama's seems to be a kind of practical wisdom, and education merged with activism is the ticket he ran on and one we can run with. Education and activism mirrors in some ways Dominican's own motto of Caritas and Veritas, love and truth, and our mission to pursue truth, to give compassionate service, and to participate in the creation of a more just and humane world.
The very next day after the inauguration, I received an email from a faculty member, who'd just heard from a former student. Grace Gopp had written to say that she'd decided to go to graduate school for occupational therapy, inspired by her service learning experiences at Dominican and subsequently. She's been volunteering at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and it has been for her "an awesome and transformative experience," assisting physical and occupational therapists with rehab exercises and visiting with patients. "People come there with a variety of injuries from around the country," Grace wrote, "and participating in each one's unique rehabilitation process is the most rewarding experience I've ever had."
As Dr. King said, everybody can be great because everybody can serve (http://www.dom.edu/service/). We can.