O-naugeration

I’m excited about this O-naugeration today. In a year of little but bad news, this is a real ray of hope. I have been amazed at how, wherever I go around the country–and even in Europe and Japan, Nepal, and India, my usual beat–the young people are absolutely enthused, inspired, and increasingly engaged,  something I haven’t seen at this near fever pitch since the Sixties.  I’ve been surprised and delighted to see the number of young people—students, mostly—who’ve headed to D.C. for the big events this week. A number of my peers and colleagues have gone too. I’m meditating on this.

Obama is the perfect man for the job, today, here on these shores; he is centered as well as savvy, reflective and decisive both, inclusive yet knows where he stands. He knows how to ally and listen to excellent diverse helpmates and sage counselors.  But Oy yoy yoy!, what a pack of problems he’s inheriting! He can and will accomplish a lot, I’m sure, along with his diverse team of allies.

Hope and expectation run high. Yet after all is said and begun, Barak Obama is a mere human and not divine. No one man or team can do much in effecting significant long-lasting and socioeconomic  progress without changing the political system, with its entrenched partisanship, vested self-interests,  lobbies and corporatocracy. This is a time for change and optimism, yes, and also for us all to step up and actively participate: become better informed and more thoughtful, take responsibility for the dire state of our world– and be the leaders we want to see in the world, making a genuine difference by contributing in any number of ways.

We’re all in the same boat, friends. We all rise and fall, sink or swim together. If we don’t pull together we’ll continue to fall apart.

Lama Surya Das
Dzogchen Center
Inauguration Day
Tuesday. January 20, 2009

P.S. It sure is nice and warm here in Laguna Beach, after frigid months at home in Cambridge. i went to a cool Onaugeration benefit gala (black tie) last nite, and hundreds of Laguna’s and Orange County’s finest (Dems) were there. One emcee joke was that “this is all the Dems in Orange County”. You know how republican O C is  reputed to be. I met one of the late great Saturday Night Live stars Gilda Radner’s best friends, and she was a hoot.
I borrowed black tie from Doctor Robin’s 84 yr old Dad, who said: “Last time I wore this was in the late Eighties, to the palace of my old friend (from American Air Force stationed near Delhi days of late WW II), the Maharaja of Jaipur. He was my bridge partner and used to take me tiger hunting and elephant riding too. A great guy, Harvard educated. You might need suspenders.”