Mr. President

I was so thrilled to witness history yesterday as Barak Obama became the 44th person to take the presidential oath of office. Whether people totally agree with his ideas or even voted for him, I think it would be hard to find a person who was not touched by what happened yesterday. For me, it felt even better than the Fourth of July to watch this seamless transition of power and feel so much patriotism in that moment. Where else in the world does a transition happen so effortlessly, with the outgoing president seated on the same platform as the new president. I think yesterday was the perfect example of what our Founding Fathers must have dreamed of as they wrote the Constitution, laying out the three co-equal branches of our government, and how everyone yesterday set aside whatever partisan differences they had with one another, to celebrate the inauguration of a new president, as Americans. It was amazing to watch millions of people on the National Mall waving American flags, braving the frigid temperatures just to be part of history.

I loved so many parts of his speech, and it was startlingly realistic about the challenges our country faces. Here's a few parts I really liked:

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends -- hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths.

What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.