Barack Obama's Inauguration

Obviously, yesterday was Barack Obama's inauguration. I was very happy about that because it was a very historic moment for America to have the first African-American president and it was great to live through a historic time. Mostly, I here about world-changing experiences my parents and much older people went through and it is cool to experience something like this. I will definetly be telling my kids and grandkids about this. I also was very happy about this because Obama is such a smart guy and he is an amazing public speaker and I think he could put America back on the right track after the big mess that Bush made. I was also happy that Bush isn't president anymore because he was very uneducated. Obama does have a lot to clean up from Bush's mess such as the economic crisis and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. For the first time in a very long time I actually felt proud to be an American and to be able to have the common feelings with many other Americans, also. While watching his inauguration on TV and seeing about 2 million people in Washington D.C. and seeing how many people all over the world were celebrating, it really shows how important it is to everybody even people who live in different countries. I think that Bush made so many people all around the world (Americans included), Anti-American and most people hated us but now that Obama is president, that will change drastically and we will have more allies and more help in times of need. For example, my friend who now lives in London and my family in Serbia were also watching this monumental day. Everyone cares about this. I noticed that practically every TV channel was playing the inauguration and that also proves how special it is-if god forbid it was a Republican president, it would get hardly any coverage mostly because people are sick of them.

Easter

Easter is all about pure innocent things such as bunnies and baby chicks and flowers. This is because it is two days after Jesus' crucifixaction, so the people must esentially honor him and be good. Most Christians go to church on this day and the children do things such as scavenger hunts. Kids also get a lot of candy such as Peeps and chocolate covered eggs. The customary colors for Easter are light pastel colors. Another thing the corporate culture tells us about Easter is that little kids are supposed to dye the eggs into coloring. That is one of Easter's traditions. Like most holidays, the corporate culture tells us that Easter is the time to be with your family and eat a big, hearty meal. Also, stores sell a lot of plastic eggs, Easter-themed chocolates in the shape of eggs, bunnies, and baby chicks, little baskets with the little ribbons in them, and egg-dyeing kits. I think the reason why eggs are so huge in this holiday is because eggs represent something new and after Jesus died, the people were celebrating a "new", resurrected Jesus. But I feel that if you don't celebrate this holiday, other people might not be as shocked and ask "Why?" Whereas, if you don't celebrate Mother's day or Christmas, for example, people would be surprised. My family and I don't really celebrate Easter but when my sister and I were little, we would celebrate it so that we would fit in with all the little kids. But as we grew older, we unerstood that this is a more religious holiday, so we dont celebrate it.

Christmas

Christmas was fine this year except for the fact that I was sick. I went to Westchester to see my dad's friend and his family. Again, we talked about school and SATS, which shows that school means a good and meaningful life. We also talked about people but we hardly brought up corporate culture, which is something that hardly ever happens and as we were talking about that, I was observing this fact. Also, we got presents which is also defeating Jesus' meaning of Christmas, which is to not get presents but to give presents to people worse off than you. My family and I talked about it but we still didn't "follow" the rule; we are not religious people. My dad did say that by us giving presents, we are doing that to make our loved ones happy and to celebrate spending time with our family. More religious people believe giving presents is to honor Jesus and all of the good things that he did. A majority of people give presents for the reason my family does. I also believe that this is what corporate culture told us to believe and that some folk cultures tell us to give presents instead of recieving presents. The resents during Christmas time was definitely shown to us by the corporate culture because presents are materials and we live in a very materialistic society.