Someday Is Now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

January 20th, 2009. I cleared my morning schedule to be a part of history! I could not be there in person like 1.4 million of us were, so like most Americans, I watched the whole thing on television. Since on November 20th Charlie Gibson was the reporter that told me "Barak Obama has been declared the winner, and is the 44th President of The United States", ABC had the honor of bringing me The Inauguration!
I watched with disbelief. Is this really happening? Tears flowed. I watched as the motorcade pulled up to the White House. This was not just some Senator visiting; this was a transition of power. The next President! A black President Tears flowed.
If you have read any of my previous blog entries, you would know that I was really invested in this election.

As I sat in bed with my wife Pam to watch the swearing in ceremony, my mind shifted to the Civil Rights Movement and the anthem they sang We Shall Overcome.
It became particularly popular in the 1960s in America, after Pete Seeger picked it up, adapted it, and taught it to his audiences to sing. The melody dates back to before the Civil War, from a song called "No More Auction Block for me." Originally, the lyrics were "I'll overcome someday," which dates back to a turn-of-the-20th-century song by the Reverend Charles Tindley of Philadelphia. The song didn't appear on a large scale until 1946, during a labor strike at the American Tobacco Company. One of the women striking that day – Lucille Simmons – began singing slowly, "Deep in my heart I do believe we'll overcome some day." Here is how it goes:

We shall overcome
We shall overcome
We shall overcome someday

CHORUS:
Oh, deep in my heart
I do believe
We shall overcome someday

We'll walk hand in hand
We'll walk hand in hand
We'll walk hand in hand someday

CHORUS
We shall all be free
We shall all be free
We shall all be free someday

CHORUS

We are not afraid
We are not afraid
We are not afraid someday

CHORUS
We are not alone
We are not alone
We are not alone someday

CHORUS
The whole wide world around
The whole wide world around
The whole wide world around someday

CHORUS
We shall overcome
We shall overcome
We shall overcome someday

Then it struck me as President Barak Obama was giving his speech that someday is today. Someday is now!
Only a day after celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday, On the same mall that he shared his dream, the dream was being fulfilled. Wow, and I am alive to witness it! Many have stated that they thought this would never happen in their lifetime, well it has. All of the struggle, and the Americans that had to endure being treated as less than are now truly seen as American. Now, not only do we know we can dream, but that we can achieve the dream. The anthem on the 60's We Shall Overcome has echoed into a new century and become YES WE CAN. Now on January 20th, 2009, YES WE DID. We overcame. We overcame as a race, and as a country. The road is long but we have taken a definitive first step. No more do we sing "We shall overcome someday" because someday in today!