Inaguration Day
Like any institution, the psychiatric hospital at Western State Hospital functions on routine. Meals are served, patients are given medications, and everyone participates in educational classes.
But Inaguration Day was different. On this day, staff and patients came together as a community of Americans. All classroom TVs were fixed upon this historic moment in the U.S. Presidency.
There is something far ranging when an event takes place that is unprecedented in history. The signficance of Obama’s election upon the African-American community has been well documented of late. But what about the residual joy from the story of this ordinary joe who aspired to an impossible dream?
Something unprecedented happened in the classrooms on Inaguration Day. Where there are often tears of sorrow or rage, on that day the tears were that flowed were joyous and hopeful. Thanks, Mr. President, we needed that!
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January 22nd, 2009 at 11:27 pm
Yes, there really is Hope in the air. A nice day at the libraries, everywhere.
February 25th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
It was much the same here at Eastern State Hospital. We had the TV on in the Staff Services Library, and a Treatment Mall group was in the room. Several of our young male patients had pulled their chairs up close to the TV, and were watching and listening intently. When the speech was done one of them, a Latino, turned to me with tears in his eyes and a huge smile and said, “Maybe someday it will be a Mexican-American standing there.” I happily agreed, and added “Si, se puedes!”