“When I was a child I spoke as a child, I understood as a child,
I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away
childish things.” – 1 Corinthians 13:11

I was fourteen years old when I visited Washington, DC for the fist time. It was a class trip during the year I graduated from eighth grade. I had just chosen a high school and was looking forward to the future. I reminisced on this first trip to the nation’s capital as I traveled there from New York City on the day before inauguration of the 44th President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama.

My traveling companion was my younger brother. When we arrived in DC, we met my pastor friend at the Union Station. He introduced us to his pastor friend who put us up for the night in his mansion in Fort Washington, MD. My brother and I each had our own room with an adjourning bathroom. It was like a hotel suite. On the morning of January 20, 2009, my friend picked us up with his mother in the driver’s seat. She had attended the March on Washington in 1963, so there was no one more befitting to drop us off at the Metro rail for the start of our journey to the National Mall for the inauguration.

We rode the train to L’Enfant Plaza. There are four subway lines that converge at the station so it was crowded like rush hour on a Tuesday morning in the Big Apple. The police directed everyone to one exit where there were two escalators about 200 feet long. They were turned off so we had to walk up the steps. There was a middle-aged white man in a wheelchair. He had two black female attendants. As he struggled on foot to climb the metal stairs, the women grappled with the chair behind him. When I reached the top, I went back and gave him a hand. He was in so much pain but determined to make it up the escalator. Nothing was going to hold him back from attending the inauguration.

Nothing was going to hold my brother and I back either. He resides in Buffalo, NY. I invited him to fly down to NYC and ride the bus with me that was provided by a civil rights organization. But when he arrived the bus was cancelled. We were not going to be held back however, so we decided to go Greyhound for a round trip of “$44,” which was a sign from GOD that our excursion was blessed. We made it to DC and the National Mall where we stood with millions of people of all races from across the country and around the world that had the same determined spirit to brace the cold wind that Tuesday morning and be a part of history.

The Book of 1 Corinthians was written by the Apostle Paul. The church of Corinth, which he started, was using its spiritual gifts improperly and Paul wanted to restore it to its holy foundation, which was JESUS CHRIST. Obama quoted from the verse, 1 Corinthians13:11 in his inauguration speech: “We remain a young nation, but in the words of scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea passed on from generation to generation; the GOD-given promise that we all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.”

This was the “promissory note” that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. described in his historic, “I Have a Dream” speech, which he delivered from the Mall forty-five years ago. King remarked: “This will be a day when all of GOD’s children will be able to sing with new meaning, ‘My country ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my father died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.” And Aretha Franklin sang it!

After the Inauguration, my brother and I walked up Independence Avenue headed for the bus depot, I thought about the choice I made on November 4, 2008 that lead to the swearing in of our first African American chief executive and how I was looking forward to the future and the new administration.

Darryl L Lacy