To The Next Four Years

Four years ago I was a freshmen in high school who could talk politics like an adult with my parents.  I watched as the election happened throughout the year and in some cases I probably devoted a bit too much time to watching the news and reading about the candidates and their platforms as they traveled the country.  Four years ago, I watched in my English class as President Obama was sworn in as president. I missed lunch to watch the coverage with my teacher.

Over the last four years I've laid off on watching the news as much as I had.  Probably, in most cases, I care too less about it now considering that I spend most of my time looking at the past instead of the current affairs.  Yesterday though, I couldn't miss the inauguration.

In many ways I feel as if I have grown up with Obama but in a different way compared to how I grew up with Bush.  I was a second grader when 9/11 happened, I knew who President Bush was ever since.  I grew up as a grade school child with her older brother deployed in Iraq.  I even remember at some points that I was angry with President Bush because I couldn't always talk to my big brother and he could never tell me where he was at.  Did I understand that he was not the direct person in charge of my brother's phone calls, no.  To a grade school kid who didn't understand, I went through phases where I hated President Bush.

I say that I've grown up with Obama in a different way than I did with Bush.  I went through high school seeing how Obama handled the things that were left over from Bush and the new things that were being thrown at him.  As a high school kid, I was starting to figure out what my beliefs were and what I wanted my life as an American to be like. In so many aspects, I feel as if President Obama's first term is personally connected to my life.

It's just an odd thing to think that four years ago marked the beginning of my high school years and the first term of President Obama's office and now as his second term begins I am starting my higher education.  With the next four years ahead of our country, and for me personally, I think that the amount of things we can accomplish will baffle future generations when they study us in history.

- Jessie