today, as i drove home to watch the inauguration with mom, i thought to myself, "i'm glad i'm going to watch this with mom. it will be a good story to tell when people ask me where i was when barack obama was inaugurated." i don't often think freely in terms of the future, but this was a completely unedited thought, thinking about years and years from now when others typically ask, "where were you when..." that says something about how i view the magnitude of today's events. it was enough to make me forget my own circumstances.
i do not doubt the amount of work that it will take to improve the economy and fix all that's wrong with our country and the standing we have in the world. it cannot happen overnight, and it will be years before we know whether obama's presidency was a successful one.
for me, the predominant hope occupying my mind regarding the new administration is that a sense of urgency returns to the funding and development of cancer research. there are myriad other concerns facing the country, but in the time it has taken you to read this far, more than one person has died from cancer. more than one person has been told they have cancer. lives are shattered and lost, and people take on the biggest fight of their lives. constantly, all day, every day. i'm currently on drugs that were not known to treat lung cancer just three years ago; they did not exist ten years ago. it took money, time, devoted scientists, and countless patients to make the discovery that these drugs could help in the fight against lung cancer. and i have at least one year of my life to thank for that. the funding for cancer research, especially lung cancer, has been cut back and reduced to meager levels in the past eight years. it is time to reestablish the need for cutting edge science to tackle the diseases that encompass cancer as a whole. it is time to work to defeat the disease. give us all a chance for more years.
so, with that in mind, i haven't lost sight of the historical significance of today's events. of course we elect a president every four years. this year, however, the election of obama was momentous as more than just the 44th president of the united states. so, i drove home to watch on the big screen, because today was an important day. i hope there's a big change coming. we've overcome an enormous hurdle already. i hope the hard work pays off and we see change in a good way through the next years.
the day's been a good one. they always are when i have moments when i forget, when my hope takes over, and all seems right with the world.
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