~by Colleen O’Brien
As I watched opening day of the Obama Presidential Center in South Side Chicago last week, I at long last grew hopeful about life in these United States.
In historic Jackson Park, additional young plantings will grow into shady woods in front of the odd-looking but intriguing eight-story edifice that holds the presidential museum. From what I’ve read about the building’s contents, I can see several days of visiting the place seeking out library, displays and exhibits loaded with history, music, oratory, films, interactive games, explanations of what unusual things happened and were not necessarily revealed during the 250 years of our democracy.
And if I’m lucky, a chat with Obama or Michele, as visitors over the weekend discovered. The laudable couple shook hands, held babies and read stories to children in the library. These two individuals are exceptional as a rule but even more admirable to me now because of their sureness of what will come of us because of their fresh breeze of common decency and friendliness at the grand opening of his presidential library. I can quit stumbling through what seems like a bleak future toward a positive, if trembling one, a reassembling of decency.
The opening ceremony was about three hours of first-class, high-class entertainment – Stevie Wonder and Bruce Sringsteen to mention a couple – plus the goodwill of every person who entered that stage to inform us and perform for us. The upbeat hopefulness and sincerity of speakers and entertainers alike kept me on the brink of tears, the happy kind. A long time in coming.
During this past decade of increasingly horrible daily news announcements making for barely bearable endurance, I awoke each morning happy and moved quickly into sadness for this country of mine as the day and the “X” announcements wore on.
Last Thursday, President Barack Obama and Michelle spoke from their hearts about their eight years in the White House and revived my belief in a future I would like to live in; she listing his accomplishments: economic recovery, healthcare, prioritizing scientific discovery, national security, civil rights, the Paris Agreement and the Nobel Peace Prize; and Obama speaking his unabashed love for his wife and daughters; and the fact that he was merely one in a long succession of people fighting cynicism and reaffirming the goals of democracy; and from his point of view the burgeoning work of the generation coming up; as well as people of all ages trying to do their best.
During his formative years in organizing neighborhoods to stick up for what they needed, he developed an abiding faith that if we could give people more of a say in what governs their lives, we would bridge some of the differences that drive us apart .
These two individuals inspired me with their precise choice of words of simple sincerity to encourage every one of us to keep our cool, feed our hopes and especially take care of one another, for those things will heal our beloved country. The two of them made me not just feel better but know that there is a future worth working for, for ourselves, our kids and grands and oldsters
There is a good life ahead that we can look forward to, that we can be allowed and encouraged to make, a life that nourishes possibilities and brilliance of invention, creativity, pride of work and family and neighborhood; and, always, fun times, music, dance, stories, plays and poetry and film, gardens and trees, ballgames, a walk in the park without fear . . . oh, and small houses and renewable, natural energy.
As Michelle and Obama spoke of the need to understand one another and what needs to be done by each of us in all our different ways, I wanted to jump up and do something immediately – not thinking what it might be just yet but full of enthusiasm to do whatever needs to be done, feel something good, find people like me and people very different from me.
The John Lewis Plaza was filled to its fringe with the 3,000 VIPs, plus other invited guests and the 15,000 [these numbers have changed by the day and the news outlets] fortunate people who were able to get tickets and sit on the grass of historic Jackson Park lovin’ their heroes and swingin’ with their songsters. It was a warm, sunny day, and the crowd bubbled with enthusiasm for the opportunity to once again get the Obamas in sight with their always enticing, exciting, practical ideas, their wisdom and intentionality, their friendliness and their truly admirable integrity . . . all these basic human attributes we’ve starved for too long. The 19.3-acre campus is free and open to the public daily. This includes a branch of the Chicago Public Library, the playground and a lookout tower called the Sky Room. The museum requires a ticket reserved through Obama Foundation Ticket Portal; obtaining a reservation is about five months out if you call right now, a clue to how popular the couple who built it is and how needy we are for them and their outlook.
