An Inaugral Blessing

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;

Where knowledge is free;

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;

Where words come out from the depth of truth;

Where tireless striving stretches its arms toward perfection;

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;

Where the mind is led forward by Thee into ever widening thought and action;

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Rabindranath Tagore


And may I also add that I absolutely love reconciliations!

My daughter was attending a National Young Leaders Conference in Washington DC on the exact day of the 2008 elections. We were both adjusting to Hillary Clinton's primary loss but happy that an exceptional candidate was selected by the Democratic party. I was so please that my daughter could be in Washington for that historical election! It was a right of passage for her and for the United States. The weight shifted from a burdened past to a hopeful future. With a friendly conciliatory spirit in mind, let us take a light-hearted look at the WAR classic, "Why can't we be friends," this time as interpreted by the politically incorrect (?) Smash Mouth:

Photo of B & H by Win McNamee/Getty Images *** Local Caption *** Barack Obama; Hillary Clinton. From Google/April 23, 2008.