choosing our better history

" Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many.

They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met. On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom."

Every generation has its shared defining moments in history that we personally tag and remember where we were and what we were doing as particular monumental events unfolded. My parents talk about remembering where they were when they heard about Pearl Harbor being bombed and the assassination of JFK. I remember where I was when I heard about the space shuttle Challenger disaster and the tragic events of 9/11.

As I heard the words above spoken by new president Barack Obama as part of his inauguration speech, I was sitting in a 15 passenger van with a handful of folks preparing to get to work in the lower ninth ward of New Orleans 40 months post Katrina.

The degree of devastation that remains here is almost beyond belief.

But the hope... it will not die among those who live and labor here.

Out of suffering, an enduring spirit continues to choose hope over fear and walk a long and rugged path that defines us as a nation.