BEHOLD THIS DAY!

Jan 20, 2009 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Today is like no ordinary today. Whatever you do today, exercise deliberation over every step, every spoken word, every thought, every glance of your wandering eyes.
Be in every moment. Remember for years to come every single second of this day for this is a historic day; a day that a dream came true; a day that we should all remember because it will not recur in your lifetime or in mine.
I believe this as much as I had believed for years the very opposite: that a day like today would never come – a day when a person of African ancestry would become the President of the United States of America.
We should all count our fortune that fate has allowed us to live to see this happen because I know in your wildest dreams and in mine, none of us really and truly believed that we would ever live to see this happen. That it has happened and that we are alive to witness it makes our lives so much more meaningful.
I am a fortunate man. I have had more than my share of historic moments. Things that I never dreamt of seeing have unfolded before my eyes.
I never expected to see Garfield Sobers’s record for the highest individual score in a Test innings broken. I was around when Sobers made his world record. I read about in the newspapers and heard of it on the radio- there was no television in Guyana at that time and so I did not see. I never expected in my lifetime to have seen that record eclipsed.
It was, by Brian Lara and I am glad that I lived long enough to see that. I also lived to see the Berlin Wall fall. I never imagined that Wall would come down, much less so in my lifetime.
Someone once said that history is not made in the Caribbean. I have lived to dispute that. British troops landed to quell what they perceived as a communist insurrection in Guyana. Decades later the powerful American army, the most powerful army in the world, invaded the tiny island of Grenada.
I was around when Guyana became independent, and I saw history vindicated in Guyana when Cheddi Jagan came out of 28 years in the political wilderness to regain political power in Guyana. Yes, historic things have happened in my lifetime, more than could happen in the average person’s lifetime.
But by far the most historic moment that I will ever bear witness to will take place today when Barack Obama is sworn in as the President of the United States. I give thanks for this day whatever the skies are in Guyana or however cold it is in Washington. There will be sunshine in the hearts of all of us who have lived to see this happen.
And this is why today is so special. I have prepared for it. I am taking no chances. I must see this live on television. GPL is not going to spoil my day. I have plans that in case of blackouts, my standby plant will be put into action so that I can witness one of the greatest moments in human history.
I have ordered a special meal to be prepared for today. I have planned my schedule down to the second. I have a little notebook in which I will record my thoughts so that my descendants will know what I was doing on the day Barack Obama became the President of the United States of America.
I may not have a front seat in Washington DC. But I will have the best seat in my house, right in front the television. I do not intend to miss a moment. Everything else will have to stop for me today because I know this will most certainly be the last historic day that I will ever witness.
I know that tears will be shed today. I expect a shower of tears. I saw what the election of Obama meant. I saw a teary-eyed Jesse Jackson and Oprah Winfrey on the night last November 4 when Barack Obama won the election. It was not just tears of adulation and exultation. There was a special historic poignancy to the moment – that history had been hastened.
I know how emotional this day is for everyone but especially for the descendants of Africans. I know that today gives consolation to that long history of pain and struggle which the African people endured. Today proves that those struggles and those sacrifices were not in vain.
Behold this Day, January 20, 2009!

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BEHOLD THIS DAY!

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