Inaugural musings

It was a good day.

The political race that I've been following for over a year is now finally, officially done. Today, January 20th, 2009, was a historical day - not for Americans alone, but for the world. 

I had the opportunity to talk to my students (from grades one to three) about black history and people like Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, and now: Barack Obama. I explained to my students why today was so significant and then we proceeded to watch live coverage of the inauguration. I told my students that Barack Obama is now the most powerful man in the world. Sorry to any of my fellow Canucks who may believe that Stephen Harper is the man in charge. He really isn't - I know, tough pill to swallow.

I talked to the students about slavery and how far North America has come. I talked about how when they become adults they will read about this day in history textbooks, and their children will too. They were genuinely intrigued. So I put all my plans and lessons on the back-burner. It just wasn't as important.

After discussing how black people and white people could not drink from the same water fountain, I went on to explain to the kids that it would be like after a long gym class where they were doing lots of exercise, if I said: "Okay... people with brown hair you have to drink at this water fountain, and people with freckles you have to go down the hall to the other water fountain." The kids did not look impressed. I said:  "Would that be very nice?" 

One student replied immediately: "No! And my mom says that if I'm not nice I have to pay the consequences!"

Then another student pipes up so matter-of-factly: "NO! You don't have enough money to pay for that!"

... I love my job.