It counts as an event worth having lived long for. Barack Obama’s  inauguration came as the fulfillment of so many hopes and dreams. This day was a long time coming. For me, it brought deep-down joy.

I watched the events of last week’s Tuesday in a large room mostly filled with college students. They impressed me with the seriousness they showed during the proceedings. They applauded a few times but for the most part they greeted the events with silent attention, while obviously feeling joyful at Obama becoming president.

Looking at these young people, I felt confident for the future. They struck me as ready to be inspired by Obama, to take up his challenge to work for our society’s betterment.

Unlike them, I could bring the perspective of having lived through decades of tortured history to this occasion. The events in the civil rights struggle on the part of black people and their supporters have a permanent place in my memory.

Black people beaten in Selma, young girls firebombed in church, dogs let loose on marchers: such images are permanent fixtures in my memory. So are the times when I took part in demonstrations in favor of civil rights and justice for those unjustly deprived of them.

So that Tuesday counted for me, as for so many others, as a day worth celebrating and one that takes its place as among the most memorable of my life. No wonder tears came to my eyes when I saw so many hopes fulfilled.

From Obama’s acceptance speech, certain statements jumped out at me. When he rejected as false “the choice between our safety and our ideals,” it signaled a decisive turning away from the Bush administration’s assault on our civil liberties in the name of security.

When he asserted that “our power alone cannot protect us,” I felt reassured that Obama was rejecting American militarism. And the words “our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness” spoke to me of his deep regard for diversity.

In itself this was not his greatest speech. But the occasion made Obama’s words vital and gave great importance to his message.

He called on Americans everywhere to accept sweeping, perhaps drastic, transformation. “The world has changed, and we must change with it,” he asserted. That means accepting “the spirit of service,” and “a new era of responsibility.”

For those who think our destiny already set in stone, he said: “God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.”  This latter statement would surely have pleased Martin Luther King and those who took part in his struggles for peace and justice.

I also welcomed what Obama said to those Muslim leaders who have recourse to violence: “Your people will judge you on what you can build, not on what you destroy.” If only they can take this truth to heart!

Now the hard work begins. On inauguration day, the stock market dropped 330 points, some four percent of its value. This marks only one sign of the problems that face the new president and his administration.

A long time ago I learned to distinguish between optimism and hope. The current fiscal situation does not give reason for optimism. Conditions are bad now and are likely to get worse. I am not optimistic about improvement.

The new president agrees with this assessment. But at the same time he suggests we join him in hoping for radical change to remedy our plight. “Yes we can” remains his motto, one that millions of Americans want to believe will work.

Seeing that huge crowd assembled from the inauguration stand to the Lincoln Memorial was enough to suggest hope for change. So too the boisterous  throngs lining Pennsylvania Avenue served as signs of that hope. Can you imagine this level of enthusiasm if John McCain had been elected?

The gift of longevity brings encounters with events previously unforeseen. That counts as one of its most precious advantages. So much has happened that I would not have wanted to miss.

Though it probably makes no logical sense, I regret that my friends who died in recent years have not seen such events as last Tuesday’s. As others have pointed out, it seems a shame that Martin Luther King did not live to see this inauguration. But, had he not died for others, it might not have happened.

My recent reading about Franklin Roosevelt’s early days in office leads me to believe in Obama’s chances of success. Though we may think otherwise now, FDR did not have all that many clear ideas of how to pull America out of its economic depression.

Obama, by contrast, does have some clear ideas. They may not work or, at least, they may need a period of trial and error, but he has a highly skilled team to help him in the giant tasks ahead.

Richard Griffin