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I WEEP WITH A NEW HOPE FOR THE FUTURE
Just a note. I am watching CSPAN and playing on the pc. They replayed Gramma Pelosi being sworn in as Speaker of the 111th Congress. There she was, my goddess at the dais surrounded by grandchildren and children of many of the new Representatives of the People's legislative body. The House of Representatives.
As I have noted before, the Constitution of the United States recognizes the Speaker of the House as the second most important post in our government.
And there she is again. Just as she was two years ago. Only this time with a more cooperative Senate and a new President in the next two weeks.
Speaker Pelosi was sworn in by the eldest Democrat, crippled by age, illness and the loss of powers. Speaker Pelosi, just before this gave a great speech ringing in a new age. A new President who represents a new way of thinking, a new way of being. She recognized a new look at race in this country, as a beacon to the world that America is coming to realize its dream. A multi cultural, multi religious and multi racial citizenry.
Hello world. We are still the new hope for a new world.
Rituals can sometimes be discounted. Then she said...blah blah blah.
But this really touches me tonight. A female Speaker of the House of Representatives.
An African American President soon to be sworn in.
We had a great propaganda system here in Minnesota. I grew up with dreams. Some realities were covered over. Restrictive covenants reigned as far as neighborhoods. Blacks were still being murdered. Marches for equality were being accomplished with little media coverage. Women were given a back seat as far as advancement, professional choice.
But we were taught that a woman was equal to a man. That Balcks were equal to whites. That there was a man named Lincoln who made all this possible.
If those seeds had not been planted back in the fifties, by our teachers and our textbooks, we may never have seen this day.
A billion people from all over the world or more will witness the events that take place in fourteen days. But today was a great day for America.
As I have noted before, the Constitution of the United States recognizes the Speaker of the House as the second most important post in our government.
And there she is again. Just as she was two years ago. Only this time with a more cooperative Senate and a new President in the next two weeks.
Speaker Pelosi was sworn in by the eldest Democrat, crippled by age, illness and the loss of powers. Speaker Pelosi, just before this gave a great speech ringing in a new age. A new President who represents a new way of thinking, a new way of being. She recognized a new look at race in this country, as a beacon to the world that America is coming to realize its dream. A multi cultural, multi religious and multi racial citizenry.
Hello world. We are still the new hope for a new world.
Rituals can sometimes be discounted. Then she said...blah blah blah.
But this really touches me tonight. A female Speaker of the House of Representatives.
An African American President soon to be sworn in.
We had a great propaganda system here in Minnesota. I grew up with dreams. Some realities were covered over. Restrictive covenants reigned as far as neighborhoods. Blacks were still being murdered. Marches for equality were being accomplished with little media coverage. Women were given a back seat as far as advancement, professional choice.
But we were taught that a woman was equal to a man. That Balcks were equal to whites. That there was a man named Lincoln who made all this possible.
If those seeds had not been planted back in the fifties, by our teachers and our textbooks, we may never have seen this day.
A billion people from all over the world or more will witness the events that take place in fourteen days. But today was a great day for America.
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Lovely, DD. I like your line about the seeds being planted. I like to think that maybe all the seeds of unity those ole hippies planted way back when helped to produce this new generation that led to this great day. I know what you mean. I never thought I'd see it in my lifetime.
January 7, 2009 12:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks Flower. A female Speaker of the House of Representatives should get more press. But the Hippies, and I acted like one, represented a time when the ideals were lost in a reality I did not like. Sometimes I like to pretend we are getting there.
January 7, 2009 1:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
I just liked the weed, the sex and the clothes...but that was then. Fortunately, I grew up.
January 7, 2009 6:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ah Stilli, if I only knew you then.
But I lived to see the Times they are a changin.
Somebody on another blog was disparaging my goddess Pelosi. I challenged the rascalian to a duel.
January 7, 2009 6:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Since I'm a post-hippie person, a mere 444 years old, can anyone tell me whether Obama's momma was a hippie? I mean, she married a black person and felt compelled to work in nations far away to help them transition into the modern world. Please explain how one determines whether she is or is not a hippie. Thanks!
January 7, 2009 2:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gregor, pictures I see of her tell me she was a 'free spirit.' I am assuming she would be about 68 or ten years older than me born about 1940, around the time of Dylan and Lennon. And she married a black man which was against the law in a score of states across the nation. And then she married a native of Indonesia. I am also a boomer and I think you are properly categorized as generation x.
You and I should keep a lookout on this. I have not had a chance to read his entire book--first book. Like me, Grampa and Grandma had a big affect on him also.
January 7, 2009 2:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
I sometime flatter myself and think I do not belong in a category, or should not be associated with the labels of "my" generation. But then I go and wonder if she is a hippie? Go figure!
January 7, 2009 4:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Listen, your generation is the one I'm counting on. You are in Obama's generation, Gregor. That will be shown to be the greatest generation.
January 7, 2009 4:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
If we are not, we are all f*cked.
January 7, 2009 6:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
:) You got that right.
January 7, 2009 6:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
DOH! 44, a mere 44 years old.
January 7, 2009 2:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
But ahhhh, what bliss, to be young in 1581! Now THOSE were the days!
January 7, 2009 2:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
THOSE WERE THE DAYS
Once upon a time there was a tavern,
Where we used to raise a glass or two.
Remember how we laughed away the hours,
think of all the great things we would do.
Those were the days my friend,
We thought they'd never end,
We'd sing and dance for-ever and a day,
We'd live the life we choose,
We'd fight and never lose,
For we were young and sure to have our way.
Lalala lah lala, lalala lah lala
Just tonight I stood before the tavern,
Nothing seemed the way it used to be.
In the glass I saw a strange reflection,
Was that lonely soldier really me.
Those were the days my friend,
We thought they'd never end,
We'd sing and dance for-ever and a day,
We'd live the life we choose,
We'd fight and never lose,
For we were young and sure to have our way.
Lalala lah lala, lalala lah lala
Through the door there came familiar laughter.
I saw your face and heard you call my name.
Oh, my friend, we're older but no wiser,
For in our hearts the dreams are still the same.
Those were the days my friend,
We thought they'd never end,
We'd sing and dance for-ever and a day,
We'd live the life we choose,
We'd fight and never lose,
For we were young and sure to have our way.
Lalala lah lala, lalala lah lala
:o)
I can't find who wrote this...Lennon or McCartney?
My spidey senses tell me McCartney.
January 7, 2009 6:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh Flower, You are making me cry at six O'clock in the PM. I do not like to cry until midnite. No fair.
McCartney, of course!!!!
January 7, 2009 7:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, gee, I didn't mean to do that to you, DD.
Reading 'those were the days' in the comment above reminded me of the song and as usual I could only remember parts of it so I had to look it up and after singing the song in my head it just seemed appropriate to put it on your blog post. It fitted. :o)
Now, I must run over and see what the to-do is over doo-doo in Detroit.
January 7, 2009 10:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
I liked this post a lot, dickday. Wonderful sentiments. I don't share your adulation of Speaker Pelosi, but her election and Obama's is a wonderful accomplishment of real diversity in the world leadership, from the U.S.
As Bill Maher noted in last year's final "New Rules": I've gone from "God damn America!" to "God DAMN, America!" One little comma makes all the difference.
January 8, 2009 10:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
That is a great quote and I will watch my commas
January 8, 2009 4:06 PM | Reply | Permalink