Celebration

I cried all through the Lincoln Memorial concert. The mall looked wonderful. Obama looked wonderful - he looked presidential.

The show was beautifully produced.( Except for some awkward moments with eagles. Those of us who have tried to chase eagles out of the garbage cans are not impressed by their close-ups),

.But everyone (well, almost everyone) on stage dressed in winter going to church clothes or dress uniforms. Smiling. Usher, Will.i.am, Queen Latifah, Herbie Hancock, Beyonce, Stevie Wonder standing so tall, proud, and happy. The choruses - church choirs, military glee clubs, kids. The flags. Bruce and U2. I cried because Pete Seegar has lived to sing "This Land is Your Land" today and because Odetta didn't. I cried remembering my first trip to DC, the antiwar rally in the fall of 69, and walking towards the mall for the first time as Richie Havens sang "Freedom".

And now its forty years later and everything seems possible. I don't think I had ever imagined today. Those forty years seem like a moment standing and shivering under cloudy skies. Today I raise my head and look at the present and the future.