In watching the Obama inauguration,and listening to his speech,I was a little surprised how low key it was. I had half expected some superlatives or Kennedyesque quotations, but he stayed close to message.
Possibly he avoided such hyperbole just because he knew people expected it from someone that eloquent; had he engaged in highfaluting phrases and statements, he might be accused of being a copy-cat or worse. He soon will face the sombre task of leading his country out of the abyss created by his predecessor; for as the priest said to the farmer who was imploring him to pray for his withering crops: here you need more than prayers, you need manure.
One thing struck me as rather profound and telling: he talked about coming together as a people and as citizens of this world, and to get away from the petty provincialism and tribalism that so often divide us –into them and us. There was another phrase that belongs with the word tribalism, and that is religious fundamentalism of all hues –be it the fanatics of the Christian or Islamist variety.
When used in such exclusory, tribal ways, I think one must question if religion, on the balance, has been a benefit and a blessing to humanity, or a “millstone around our neck”.
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