Let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together.
President Obama
Tucson, Arizona
January 12, 2011
There is a special kind of guilt that overcomes you when you have the opportunity to hear the man who has inspired such a sense of hope in you for what is possible in this country when it is surrounded by such tragic circumstances. The entire experience was like a surreal dream. I have imagined what it must be like to be present for an Obama speech but never thought I would have the chance to be at one, and much less to be at one when the community in which I live is in desperate need of healing. The entire audience was fixated on his presence and message in a way that I have not experienced previously. Suddenly this seems like a much better place to live and I think about 10,000 people in that arena (and ~15,000 in the overflow venue) feel the same way.
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