The thought has occurred to me that there are two events this week that have the same thing in common - they have shown that the American people are in great need of something to believe in, something to hope for, in the most uncertain times since the Depression.
Earlier this week a US Airways plane was ditched by the pilot in the Hudson River, as anyone who hasn't been living under a rock knows. All 155 people aboard survived in what the media is calling the "Miracle on the Hudson." Was it a miracle? Well, not exactly. First, pilots practice this maneuver during training, and the pilot on that plane had many years of experience. Second, that particular pilot happens to also fly gliders, and since that's what that aircraft became after the loss of both engines, he was able to perform the water landing with skill. Granted, it was a great landing. But I do think that the media and the talk shows that I have paid attention to have really blown this out of proportion. It was training that brought that plane down safely, not a miracle.
The other event that is happening this week is the inauguration of Barack Obama as our 44th President. His positive poll numbers are higher than the number of people who voted for him on election night in November. I wondered why this was... after all, the economy is in a huge mess compared to where it was when he first started campaigning, how could anyone be feeling positive about anything? Before the election he was a one-term Senator whom no one thought had a chance of winning. Many people thought the country was not going to elect a person of color much less one with a name unlike any other President we've ever known. And he is young -- this is the first time in my life that the President of this country will be younger than I am.
Yet hopes are running high, and everyone seems to be in a party mood this week. I think it's due to two things: 1) almost everyone is soooo glad to finally be getting rid of George W. Bush; and 2) we need something to give us some hope that everything will work out all right in the end, no matter how bad things look right now. Just the way that people on that plane hoped the pilot could do his job well and bring the plane down with no fatalities, the majority of Americans are hoping that Obama can do his job well too. And they seem willing to give him the chance. I just hope that they give him time. This economic mess didn't happen in a day, and it won't be fixed in a few months. But for the next three days, we can try to forget the bad news and focus on the promise of better times to come.
