I Stood For 8 Hours In The Freezing Cold… And I’d Do It Again And Again

Posted by oshun on January 22, 2009

As I drove 11 hours from Atlanta to Washington D.C. to witness President-elect Barack Obama get sworn in as our 44th president, I had to continually pinch myself.

Yes, it hurt, but Obama spent 2 years on the campaign trail, and this fleeting discomfort was nothing compared to that.

There are no words to describe the sheer surrealness of being in the nation’s capital on January 20th, 2009.

My day started early, at 4:30, before me and my friends, bundled up like Eskimos, found our way through the already massive crowds and freezing weather to the Mall to witness Obama’s swearing in.

We walked and we stood for 8 hours without sitting down. We laughed, danced, sung, cried and talked to people from all around the globe who had come for the same reason we did… they could not help but come. None of us could ignore the call, the pull, to suspend all else and fulfill our duty to simply show up.

To make the pilgrimage to witness history.

To witness the axis turn and a new day dawn in our country.

To witness the rise of a new era.

Some personal highlights:

• Slowly exiting the train station crammed with over 1,000 people all chanting, “OBAMA, OBAMA!”
• 1,000s of us waiting to cross Independence Avenue at 7:30 a.m. to get to the Mall on the other side. At that moment it truly seemed as if the Mall was Mecca.
• Walking from the train station through the blocked off streets, asking random officers “Is this the way to the Mall?” surrounded by equally confused people joyfully following one another and literally skipping through the streets with joy.
• Standing in the mall surrounded by 1.8-2 million people, dancing to U2 during a re-broadcast of the previous day’s concert.
• Aretha Franklin singing “My Country Tis Of Thee” (this is where I finally lost it).
• The sight of Barack Obama and his beautiful family finally emerging into view to the roar of millions of people.
• Barack Obama himself, head held high, striding regally into the sunrise of history as he entered the stage to be sworn in.
• The way Michelle looked at him as he took the oath on Lincoln’s bible which she held in her hands.
• The tears, gasps and shouts issuing from the crowd around us as he delivered his awe-inspiring speech.
• The boom of the cannons being drowned out by the cheering of millions.
• Hugging complete strangers as history was made.
• Taking 2 hours to get down 20 steps into the train station

All in all it was hard getting there, but it was worth every shiver, every step, every mile walked, every moment of uncertainty, every tear. I’m so grateful to have been a part of this historic day.