To Attend or Not
Things are crazy around here planning for the inauguration of Barack Obama on Tuesday. Roads are going to be closed all around the area. Cars will not be allowed into the district.
I am contemplating if I should go downtown to the mall or not. This could be a historic event. I could tell my grandchildren about it. Think about how it would be if your great great great grandfather had been there for the Gettysburg address by Lincoln and had written about it. You never know what will go down in history. What if your mother and witnessed the declaration “Ask not what your country can do for you but rather what you can do for your country”?
There is going to be bicycle valet parking. I can ride down. Even if I don’t get close I can be part of the event and it could be amazing. It could also be very miserable.
I probably won’t make a decision until Tuesday morning when I see the weather. But I haven’t lost anything if I just ride my bike there.
What do you all think? I have added a poll if it shows up.
Tags: Obman inauguration
January 15th, 2009 at 10:24 am
I’m surprised you’re thinking about it, you hate crowds.
January 15th, 2009 at 10:30 am
Liz does bring up a good point. I do generally avoid crowds and lines. The gospel according to me regarding hell is not that it is a lake of eternal fire. It is a place where you stand in line for hours. When you get to the front of the line a person who worked for Department of Motor Vehicles in mortality informs you that you are in the wrong line and points you to another line. You spend eternity this way.
But there have been exceptions to the crowd rule Liz. As you may recall I attended the Michael Moore speech in Orem Utah. That was an amazing even for Utah. If it had been just about any other state I wouldn’t have attended but for a place like Utah Valley college it was fun.
January 15th, 2009 at 11:00 am
I agree with your definition of hell except it would also be snowing and 32 degrees below zero. I hate winter!
January 15th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
i’m the voter for hell no…but i don’t like crowds so i may be a bit biased. then again i do just deal with it for things i’m passionate about like sporting events.
January 15th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Good Gosh, GO! It is Historic and if I am lucky, I will see you on TV, heeheehee.
January 15th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
OK, Ric was invited, and we live a long ways away…you better go!!
I hate crowds as well, but this is historical please go!
January 15th, 2009 at 8:30 pm
I am going for HELL YES!! This is a major historical event- and I wish I could go see it myself, and hey, how often do you get bike valet parking? I don’t partculalrly like crowds, but sometimes the crowd is worth it.
January 15th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
I’d offer to ride down there with you, Red, except I also tend to avoid crowds AND cold weather. Plus I just got HDTV!
January 16th, 2009 at 9:30 am
I am struggling with the same question especially since I have received couple of invitations to formal receptions in downtown DC. But regardless of the honor, I am veering towards not going because there are going to be millions and due to high level of security, Metro is going to be nightmare. At the same time, once you are inside, partying and watching the parade with goodies from the comfort and warmth of indoors, it will be worth it.
So you can see, I am going to be driving myself nuts till the last minute with this dilemma. If I do end up going, it will be among the bravest things I have done since I HATE and fear crowds especially alone.
But certainly, if being a part of history in person is important for you, you MUST go. I am comfortable being a part of history vicariously!