Cecile G, Randolph, MA:

My story:
Sunday I called three different phone numbers to get to the new SGI Buddhist community center onMassachusetts Ave, NW in DC on Embassy Row (building recently opened). I got directions and took ametro,then a bus to get there. Chanted there for an hour for the success and safety of everyone associated with the Inauguration.

While on the bus returning to the metro, overheard a man in theback of the bus retelling the anecdote about its more likely for a man of Obama's father's tribe tobecome president of the USA than of Kenya, his father's native land. At the end, the man said, "I don't know what tribe he's from." and I shouted out, "His Dad is a Luo", then started looking againat the bus map to make sure of where I was getting off. The man came and sat down behind me said, "I can help you find where you are going.", then started telling his own story. He was fascinating.He looked about early 40s, burly kind of a White guy with a nice face. He said he lives in Shanghai and DC now for his work, but after Obama won the nomination, he called local Democratic HQ and said,"I owned a farm in Virginia send me to your worst place, I can talk with those guys." So they sent him to rural West Virginia. He had a shotgun pulled on him once but he kept talking with the people there, continued campaigning for Obama. Slowly he saw them coming around.
So of course, when I got off the bus, I said, "Thank you for helping to make this day happen."


Use or lose as you see fit and of course edit, I'm long-winded. Of course, my day on the Mall started with long waits in the subway and standing in the cold and wind on the Mall and having limited view of the Jumbotron and my right foot hurt so much by the time I got back to Alexandriathat night I could hardly stand on it. But I could hear everything and the whole city wascelebrating. It was worth every minute of the trip.