Sunday, January 18, 2009

Day 252

i happened to catch some cnn this afternoon. thousand and thousands stood on the national mall and a forest gump scene flashed in my mind for a moment when i saw the washington monument and its accompanying reflection. behind this, on the steps of the lincoln memorial, garth brooks comes out to sing 'american pie' and suddenly being an american in this package of historical inauguration has incredibly 'cool' pretenses. obama and biden and families sat in a glass box towards the front and i came to a sudden and heavy realization.

this new coming president is called cool. rockstars and one of my favorite authors have their own place in the programs and festivities of the next couple days. artists are inspired and suddenly a ton of younger people care about politics because its popular.

but i sat and watched and ate lunch with unsettled and clear-cut discomfort, as if i could not lean in any specific direction in the interpretation of all this. and that made my soul very uneasy because it seems that the election and politics do more by appealing to satisfy individuals' personal pride then they can do to promise any 'change' in particular that isn't already guaranteed.

'change' automatically means change, but that seems too obvious a matter to stop it from remaining an overused part of tag line. but its been working and no one knows what change will do. to me, 'ready for change' would seem to have to mean a whole lot more than having appeal and popularities tickled by songs and idols and an alternating face of a dark furrowed brow of serious leadership and a white quiet smile of safety. pride would seem to have to mean something more than finding it while garth brooks sings don mclean's classic. bono and springsteen are the american cool. and it appears that they're making us and the new man smile.

see, i haven't really gotten anywhere. uneasiness.

these are the observations of the day.

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