Inauguration out Our Window
January 21, 2009
FCNL Welcomes President Barack Obama
What Kind of America Is This?
"You Were There"
I Am a Patriot
Biking the Inauguration
Now the Hard Work Begins
President Obama's Shout Out to the Muslim World
War Is Not the Answer Photo of the Week: Washington, DC
FCNL Welcomes President Barack Obama
Watching the inauguration here in Washington, many of us at FCNL had a sense of history in the making. You can read some highlights from our reflections below and find more responses from staff on the Quaker's Colonel and from program assistants on their blog Of Peace and Politics. For more information on what FCNL is saying to the new administration see our special webpage on the transition.
For Joe Volk, the inauguration helped answer a question he had after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.: What kind of America is this? He writes: "As we left the Memorial Bridge and made our way to the Lincoln Memorial, my question of 40 years ago got a long awaited answer. Now in 2008, I could see that America can change and be healed by coalitions of conscience that work together to mend a broken world."
For Alicia McBride, it was important to witness this historic inauguration with her two-year-old daughter, who will grow up in a world shaped by the choices made by President Obama and his administration.
Karyn Wingard Manuel writes about the cold, Aretha Franklin, and why Joseph Lowery lit her on fire. "His prayer could've come from the lips of Amos and Jeremiah," she writes on the FCNL intern blog Of Peace and Politics.
Jim Cason talks about his experience biking with his family to the inauguration, and notes the jubilant and energetic spirit of the crowds, whose excitement must now be harnessed into work for change.
Caroline Anderson reminds us that turning this country around will be an immense job:
"We need to think not just what President Obama is going to do to fix our lives, but what we can do to help raise this country up again. What a blessing that we have chosen a president who will let us try."
President Obama's Shout Out to the Muslim World
Jim Fine saw President Obama's inaugural address, in particular remarks concerning the Muslim world and the need to build mutual respect between the U.S. government and Muslim leaders, as an indicator of a fresh and more promising approach to the Middle East by the new administration.
War Is Not the Answer Photo of the Week: Washington, DC
 FCNL proudly displays a War Is Not the Answer sign on the front of its building in Washington, D.C. |
Order your own War Is Not the Answer sign and put yourself on the map.