Not Missing Out on Inauguration Day

The United States will inaugurate a new president in two days, and at least one in 50 people in the country is personally involved in the event, going to Washington to be part of it, going to an observance elsewhere, or helping the rest of us keep up with the events. It is a ritual built up around an oath of office that, in a pinch, could be done by four people in less than a minute, yet millions of people will be spending most of the day on it. And others worry that they may be missing out.

It would hardly be practical to squeeze more than 5 million of us into the District of Columbia, yet we will try. And for the rest of us, rather than feeling left out, it is a good opportunity to do something completely different.

We all have ideas of things we might do someday, if we only had the time. If I only had a few hours in a row with hardly anyone interrupting me, I could _______. I’m sure something immediately comes to mind that you can fill in the blank with. Yet for most of us, these chances don’t come up often, only a few times a year. If you can take advantage of this opportunity to make any kind of change in your life, even just a change in your surroundings, there is no reason to feel that you are missing out. It is more like you are getting a head start on everyone else.