Obama inauguration: (Sort of a) witness to history

By Jay Purdy
For Linglestown Gazette

I caught the 5 a.m. bus departure from the Harrisburg Mall.

We made great time, around two hours, to our destination, RFK stadium, jumping onto shuttle buses to make the blazing fast five-minute trip for our bus to creep the final half-mile of the dash downtown in the lightning time of one hour.

Emerging from the bus dressed for the cold like the kid brother in Christmas Story, I calmly walked over to the cherished purple ticket entrance gate on the other side of the Capitol, a trek reminiscent of the Israelites wandering the desert for 40 years, to arrive at my Promised Land, a mass of about 10,000 other holders of rare purple tickets languishing at an intersection only feet from West Virginia – the state, not the street.

But our land flowing with milk and honey remained out of our reach behind 10-foot tall steel barricades. It seems Joshua had issued too many tickets.

Off in the distance, we heard the feint notes of "Ruffles and Flourishes," and the cheers sweeping through 3 million of our fellow citizens, followed by the surprising close methodic crash of the 21-gun salute.

As some of my impromptu compatriots on our version of the "three-hour tour" surrendered to the despair that we were so near, yet so far, I counseled them that things could be worse – George W. Bush could still be president. Those around me agreed and we melted away, each seeking their own path to salvation – a way back to whence we came, consoled that in our way, we were part of history – well, sort of.

The bus made great time back to Harrisburg.
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Jay Purdy is a former Lower Paxton Twp. supervisor, a member of the Lower Paxton Historical Society, an avid Civil War reenactor, and a big-time Obama supporter.
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Photos by Jay Purdy. Top: Buses arrive back in Egypt (RFK Stadium) from the Promised Land. Bottom: Unidentifiable important people bidding farewell as George W. Bush boards Marine 1. Click on pictures to view larger versions.