Diamond-Cut Life

My coworkers and I crammed into our boss David’s office yesterday morning on his invitation (he’s the one with a television) to watch Obama’s inauguration. Rick Warren’s prayer, Aretha Franklin’s rendition of “America”, the taking of oaths and our new President’s speech all held us rapt and riveted. Early on, David, who has three grown daughters, put a box of Kleenex on the table we were clustered around, and we made use of it, along with our hands for clapping and our voices for cheering. OK, maybe I was the loudest in the group. But everyone’s joy was palpable.

I write about politics only occasionally here at Diamond-Cut Life, both because it gets covered exhaustively by others, and because, as with sports and music, I’m more interested in participating than watching. My focus in this blog is on involvement, interdependence and what we can do, not on what famous people might be doing, or on what is being done to us.

But that was exactly what was in the air yesterday, and the reason I’m covering it today. As we watched the Inauguration, my coworkers and I and millions all around the nation understood from our new President’s words that we all share a responsibility for our common good. Yesterday’s elation came from seeing ourselves as parts of something bigger than our individual self-interests. This is a normal perspective in many cultures, but a big shift in perspective for Americans, to think in terms of ‘we’ and not just ‘I’.

And during the Obama administration we will have to keep moving beyond our old-fashioned, individualistic me-first thinking and behaviors into a more we-oriented mode that focuses on the greater good in order to deal effectively with both global warming and the economy.

photo courtesy of manuebo

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