Last Monday I sought and secured an apt with an acupuncturist seeking relief from excruciating leg and back pain. I’ve had some pain these past months, but Sunday it flared up in a new way--uber pain--and I needed relief. The highly trained and expert acupuncturist explained to me that in a perfectly healthy body oxygen and blood flow freely through our veins and arteries to feed our organs and muscles. Yet when blockages occur in our arteries and veins, the potential for disease erupts, often followed by symptoms; i.e., pain. Well, yes, I was definitely in the pain category!

After pressing on various locations on my leg, ankle and hip he nearly had to scrape me from the ceiling where I rocketed to from the pain. He deduced that I had obstructed circulation. Basically a narrowing of the all important arteries & veins was causing poor circulation and the pain was symptomatic of that. Always curious I asked, "What are the principal causes of these narrowed arteries?" He replied, "Well genetics is #1, followed by a couple other potential causes." I leaned forward, "what’s #2?" He answered, "Stress." I didn’t feel any need to ask about #3; the conversation turned another direction from there.

He warned me that one treatment wouldn’t be viable. I would need to commit to at least 3 treatments, to which I readily agreed. He inserted several needles and immediately I felt relief. He chattered about the different treatments—pain relief or symptom cure—listed on his intake form. Not being an acupuncture specialist, I had checked the box stating, "Whichever the doctor recommends" so we agreed on both pain relief and addressing and curing the cause of the blockage(s).

One day later as I luxuriated in all the TV coverage of the inauguration of our 44th United States’ President, it dawned on me. Of course! We, in the United States of America were in pain of one sort or another—lost job, foreclosed home, inability to afford health care, failure to sell our homes, battered investment portfolios, general depression or dismay at our downward slide as a nation on so many fronts.

We had managed to obstruct the healthy circulation of money in our banking systems and on Wall Street. We had also managed to obstruct the healthy circulation of truth and honor in our government such that we were as a nation suffering from VERY poor circulation indeed. Our collective organs were suffering and our muscles weakened.

The powerful Wall Street executives had blocked the flow of capital; lies had obstructed and narrowed the flow of truth, such that we were plenty diseased, and plenty pained. No longer is that pain reserved primarily for ENRON, WorldCom, Lucent or Lehman employees. I hearken back to April 13, 1958 when Harry Truman stated in the Observer, "It’s a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it’s a depression when you lose yours." Ouch! Indeed our nation and many of her people are pained amidst disease; the perfect storm of the confluence of our financial, regulatory and government impotency and failures.

Yet on this day, this 20th day of January, we gathered together—amidst our pain—in spirit and flesh to witness the swearing in of Barack Obama, the people’s president.

Over a million (maybe 2) people—some famous, most commoners--somehow planned ahead, fought traffic and security check points, and reassured their bodies of their warmth amidst freezing cold temperatures, to attend. No, they weren’t crazy; they were committed. They exchanged emails and texts and formed community in a few short hours.

I digress to the analogy that we rally behind our athletic teams or sport stars because it interests us, and it focuses us/joins us together, we share a common bond. We’ll not be "in their league" yet we find ways to relate. I, for one, bought a #10 NY Giants Official NFL blue jersey after watching Eli Manning deftly dodge that sea of New England Patriots’ defenders last Super Bowl and I don it when I need or want a confidence boost.

Somehow however I felt differently about an Obama jersey…kinda like it wasn’t adequately "befitting" to honor my President by wearing his image on a jersey. Mind you, I don’t begrudge anyone’s buying Obama paraphernalia—God knows the economy sorely needs consumer spending—and moreover it certainly did seem to unite people, allowing folks to display their unwavering support.

Yes he is; President that is. Yes, this President IS different. In the past weeks, we’ve seen a man who despite his polish and cloak of calm, chattered freely about the verdict on what breed of dog that he and Michelle will give to Malia and Sasha, to fulfill their campaign promise. We’ve seen a man who despite the continued swirl of economic ills and world unrest since his resounding victory on November 4th reminded us respectfully that we have only "One president at a time." We’ve seen a President-Elect that has been uncharacteristically committed to bi-partisanship within his cabinet. And on the eve of the Inauguration President-Elect Obama graciously hosted a dinner honoring his general election rival, John McCain.

This time we see a President who more than tapped into young people’s social networking—he actually evoked and enlisted the interest of our youth and they responded….VOILA! Mutuality at work. I’m jumping ahead of myself here, yet as President Barack & Michele Obama danced at the Inauguration Youth Ball—wasn’t that a 1st?—he paid a very gracious and more-than-fitting thank you to those under age 35 in his speech. Apparently his new interactive White House website (another first) was up before he even uttered the oath.

Yes, this Inauguration was different. While millions watched what otherwise was an expertly choreographed MEGA event (during which not 1 arrest was made) it was the brilliant Chief Justice John Roberts who flubbed" his once-memorized 35 word President’s oath of office. Wasn’t that graceful how Barack stopped, allowing the Chief Justice to correct himself? I think Barack’s rolling with Roberts’ colossal misstep bodes confidence for his handling future "mistakes".

The speech was crafted with Kennedy, Lincoln and FDR overtones and was delivered with a masterful balance of force and feeling. It was a speech that expertly addressed both the pain and the proposed symptom cures. Forget the nation’s expectations. Forget Black American’s expectations. Forget non-black American’s expectations. Malia’s words delivered to her father atop the steps of the Lincoln Memorial last weekend were, "First African-American President. Better be good!"

The media nearly immediately fed us the line, "not a Home Run acceptance speech" which I will comment on in a separate blog. "He got millions there," one commentator aptly retorted. Malia beamed. Even my father, a right-wing Christian fundamentalist, who surely has voted Republican every election including this one, uttered "good job" immediately after Obama uttered, "God bless the United States of America." I was so moved and relieved---THAT gave me hope right there in my own living room! A `Morrison microcosm’ of hope over fear that regardless of whomever we campaigned or voted for, we can indeed put aside our differences and come together as one nation under God.