The Price of Having a Ticket
By John Oliveira -- 1/20/09This morning's historic inauguration was seen in person by over a million people on the National Mall in Washington D.C. A majority of the people who saw President Obama become the 44th Commander-In-Chief attended at their own free will on a first come first served basis. However, about 250,000 were given actual tickets to secure them a spot on the Mall. These tickets were all given out free through a lottery. I was one of the few to have one of these limited tickets in my possession.
My ticket allowed me to enter via the "Silver Entrance" (also known as the nosebleed section). I was given a map to find this location. But this simple task proved to be almost impossible because many streets were closed off to pedestrians and traffic. Plus thousands of people crowded each and every corner of the city. After I took a mile-long underground walk through a tunnel I reached my destination at 5:45 this morning. that is a full hour after I had set off on my journey. I was met by a growing crowd of anxious Obama supporters already in line and forming an angry mob any time someone made the mistake of cutting in line.
At eight am the gates were opened and the crowd literally ran through them. The only way not to get crushed was to run with them. It was crush or be crushed. The first stop was passing through Secret Service security. This was perhaps the least stressful event of the entire day. Shortly after, I was separated from my friend when the crowd once again started to run to get that prime spot for a viewing. Our Silver section prime spot was at least three football fields away from the main attraction. Don't be fooled that a free ticket will get you the best seating/standing opportunities. It won't.
Finally I had finally shifted around many times and found that special spot that I could claim as my own. Then all that was left was to wait an additional two and half hours for the actual ceremony to begin. In the meantime, I dealt with screaming and borderline violent supporters who were unhappy about different things such as where their standing spots were or the children ice skating on the reflecting pool. Even a woman in a wheelchair was not spared the wrath of the mob! I must say that the below freezing temperature was also not too pleasing.
Finally, after a very long and grueling wait, President Obama appeared before the huge audience to become officially our nation's leader and to deliver his moving and powerful address.
This united us all and the
past nine hours of madness quickly faded away. So what exactly is the
price to having a ticket to Barack Obama's first appearance as our
leader? It depends on how you look at it. I may have been dying from
the cold, dabbing my runny nose nonstop, standing for nine hours which
only added more damage to my already hurting knee, being crushed and
packed in with an overwhelming crowd.
So I may look like the day's
biggest loser. And while I may have been wishing that I was in a warm
bed watching all this on a big screen tv in the comfort of my own home,
this was an opportunity that I would not have traded for anything. This
was something that nobody can ever take away from me. I was there. I
witnessed history with my own eyes.