As we stand at the apex of a new day in American History, perhaps in a description of extremes, Charles Dickens captured it best when he wrote “it is the best of times yet it is the worst of times.” As the world looks on with intent excitement and anticipation, we will witness a president-elect that rose from the lower ranks of society to the highest position in our land, almost overnight, inheriting a union in a state of disrepair. President-elect Obama has a Herculean task before him in placing our country back on course. It is “the best of times, yet the worst of times.”

While he stands taking the presidential oath of office, countless issues across the nation will be given a renewed sense of hope and promise. The astounding citizens that are affected by homelessness have a sense that we will now be fed. Those who have traversed the globe in the name of democracy and freedom can now declare that there will be peace. I am convinced that the helpless will now have a sense of help, the hopeless will have a since of hope and the lost will now have a new sense of direction under an administration and election season of promise.

It is my hope and prayer however, that a new-found sense of hope does not translate into a sense of naivety. The reality is that after inauguration Tuesday there will be January 21st and thereafter. Following the pomp and circumstance and after all the lights have dimmed there remains the reality of the day after. The amazing thing about it all is that if the Obama administration is going to be successful he is going to need the help of both his supporters and non-supporters alike, to continue to perpetuate the momentum of change.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to rage under clearly false pretense; tension in the Middle East and internationally continues to be volatile; the socio-economic gap continues to widen throughout the country; race relations remain an evident part of the fabric of America. As I will rejoice watching a man that looks like me take the oath of office, I will likewise weep, thinking of a man that also looked like me who was shoot in cold blood in the Bay Area of California by trigger happy police. In short, our domestic and international issues are a laundry list of that which is broken and in need of fixing. In all the excitement, it is the “best of times, yet the worst of times.”

It is wonderous that President-Elect Obama will stand, using the bible Lincoln used for the same purpose. In closing, I am reminded of the poem written by James Weldon Johnson for the celebration of the 100th birthday of Lincoln that would later become the Negro National Anthem:

[Click here for a link to Lift Every Voice, part of Dave Pearson’s 2002 NPR series, Present at the Creation. The site has links to four distinct performances.]

BlackCommentator.com Guest Commentator, The Reverend D. D. Prather, is a noted Civil/Social Justice Activist, and a native of Atlanta, GA. Click here to contact the Reverend Prather.