I am blessed beyond measure. I have everything I ever wanted, and more in life. I have an incredible wife that I adore (I have no idea why she married a tool like me). I have the two girls I always dreamed of having (never wanted a boy). And I have incredible parents and a great brother who helped make me who I am today.In addition, I have a job that I love, and my own office (finally! No more stupid cubicles!)
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I am at the inauguration and I must say that the most spectacular thing going on here is the trust and camaraderie between total strangers, in less than ideal circumstances. Yes it is freezing and yes it is crowded. People with tickets can't get in, long lines await you at every corner, frigid winds and non-stop traffic. Some people were stuck in a tunnel near the Dept. of Labor for 4 hours, we were told. It's amazing though, that though it all, people here have been unbelievably kind to one another. You know how when you are in a crowd and you get bumped or you bump someone there is always that moment of uncertainty? When you're not quite sure why that person pushed so hard against you and you're worried the person behind you pushed you a bit too hard into the person in front of you. It's the moment when people doubt one another, awaiting a look, scowl, or occasionally a smile. Unfortunately it can be a nasty comment that follows.Or when you drop something on a subway and people frown upon you because you have to stop and pick it up but you are holding up a bunch of other people from boarding the train.Or when you're just exhausted and nothing is going your way and you need a friendly stranger to lend a hand and it just doesn't happen.If you can't relate to any of these this idea is not for you. Thanks for reading this far.If you understand any of these experiences, you need to know that in Washington, DC this long weekend and into Tuesday, there had been a palpable feeling of kindness for one another, black white gay straight young old single family...everyone seems to have caught this virus of belief - that we can do better and that change does start with each and every individual. Each person in DC - it seems - has been able to open up to one another in a very unusual way. In a trusting relationship with total strangers. There have been fewer doubts about the intentions of the woman pushing through the crowd, the hold up on the subway line in front of you, the police officer who tells you that you have to walk a mile around to get to the next block... they all seem to be coming from a different place...a place of common intentions, goals and motives.
Everyone here likes one another because they all like their new President. And that makes this all really easy and peaceful and loving. The man who set up the free hot chocolate stand on New Jersey Ave. had the right idea. Small act, big meaning.
Problem is, when they flock to the airports and the bus and train stations to leave, they go back into a world filled with doubt again which has led me to the following question: how do we export the lack of doubt, the presence of trust, the acts of kindness that have permeated the inaugural experience?My first idea was some kind of self-identifier. A button or sticker. Something that says regardless of partisan politics, I am willing to do my part to make my country a better place. But that felt too old school and unrealistic to think people would wear it every day. And as we know, it's a bit like returning home from a vacation, the feelings and resolutions are so strong to start, and fade with the tan...we need support, reminders and structures to keep those feelings and behaviors alive, like any good behavioral change program.So I have an idea about how to pull off an I Am A Change Agent campaign, using technology online and off, and need a non-profit to step in and talk to me about it. If you like what you have read here, please, express you opinion in one way or another. That's part of the point...History has been made in more ways than one. My big question is: why does it have to be history?
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