Yachats Oregon Writer Rick Schultze

I was one of the millions who watched the inauguration and during the ceremonies I let my mind wander to thoughts of how did we get to this day? Here in Yachats at 7:30 a.m. there were almost two hundred people gathered at the Yachats commons to watch the event on a big screen TV and close to two million on hand in Washington DC braving the cold to see it live. As the news stories broke they showed people all over the world watching and listening in tiny villages and huge metropolitan areas. I have yet to see the American TV ratings but have been informed they rival that of the most watched shows of all times including the Superbowl. No matter where one went there seemed to be a TV or radio tuned into it. Bottom line; it was a monumentious and tremendously historical event.

As the day unfolded I thought of my upbringing back in the fifties and listening to some people in their early twenties on NPR radios call in talk show realized that they had a whole different take than mine on the historical aspect of the election of Barack Obama. One caller from Eugene particularly caught my attention. He explained that until Obama surfaced he’d been pretty much politically uninspired. Disenchanted by the past Administration he now felt hope and excitement. But unlike me he had never experienced segregation openly like I had in the late fifties and early sixties in the South while I was in the military. I’m white and my fellow airmen of color couldn’t got to the movies or eat with me except on the base. Having grown up in Portland and gone to integrated schools, played sports, and socialized with African Americans, Asians and Latinos I was shocked and deeply saddened.

The young caller who I had listened too also had grown up in Portland and had gone to the University Of Oregon in Eugene and had known of the segregation issue but hadn’t felt or seen the sting. But this African American leading this political groundswell lead by had struck a nerve. Here is a man whose Father just sixty years ago wouldn’t have been allowed into some restaurants just because of his skin color but today that man has risen to become President. That the caller said really made him understand what had taken place and he vowed to open his eyes and heed to the call of service and above all, seek for understanding amongst people of all races, religions, and ideologies.

To me that was exciting to hear and I felt as good about hearing that as I did to finally see a man becoming President who gives a whole lot of credence to Dr. Martin Luther King's “I have a dream speech.”

So here we go, lets all do our humble best to keep things heading upwards towards a productive, prosperous, harmonious and peaceful country and world.

To reach Rick Schultze email yarick@pioneer.net