It is wonderful that a record crowd has attended the presidential inauguration. It is a good start of new hope, and an excellent source of inspiration for all minorities. The only thing better than this, is when only a small crowd shows up for similar events in the future!
When I watched images of thousands of people at the presidential inaugural on TV, I was thinking of how we Andhrites proudly claim that Telugu language is Italian of the East! What has that to do with this historic event? A lot.
Apparently, an Italian made this observation long time ago, and some Englishmen thought so too. We, the gultis, take it as a big complement. I see it as in interesting observation; nothing beyond it. I would start feeling proud, probably when Italians begin boasting that their language is Telugu of the West! Right now, I have a feeling that 99% of Italians probably have no clue about "Telugu"language.
Similarly, we can truly celebrate equality when, say, a one-eyed ex-convict Afghan-American women takes oath as the president of the United States by swearing-in on Qur'an, and people don't see it as a big deal :-) Then, we will have a good reason to claim that equality is deeply ingrained in the populace. Obama's inauguration definitely is a great start in the right direction, but we are not there yet. Right now, we have too many differences between each other (short, tall, man, women, black, brown, yellow, white, jew, ...) and we manage to see them clearly!
