by Melissa Sileo

Created on: January 21, 2009

Words are just words. Without action, do they hold any meaning?

In our day and age it is easy to be cynical, to be doubtful. We hear the words, and while inspiring, that hope can be gone in one fleeting moment as we remember all the instances where words were just words, and action did not follow.

So, as we stand here as a country on this momentous day, moved to tears and to chills making our hair stand on end at the significance, can it all be valued at nave? Tomorrow morning, will theses feelings be leveled to nothing but a faint memory of dreams we had the night before? Will the dawn bring the "reality" that what is promised to us, as seen many times in the past, will remain stagnant as only that, a promise?

Ironically, we perceive hope as the light at the end of the tunnel, not the torch that will lead us to it. Yet it is the words of today that ignite a flame in our hearts. A flame so bright and brilliant that perhaps it may be great enough to melt away the cynicism and the doubt. And maybe, just maybe, it will bring about the power to make us believe that the fears we harbor deep in our hearts can be silenced for good.

The words that carried the hope of today were of remarkable simplicity but the reflection of which, evident in the sea of faces present to bare witness to such a historical event, was simply remarkable. One couldn't help but acknowledge the potential that they may just the right ones.

If words are just words, I implore you to challenge the meaning of these words to the millions of people present, and the billions more that watched.

Words that are delivered do not ultimately render action finding the same fate. But it is comforting to know that the man that now stands to lead us is someone who not only understands the weight of his words, but the momentum that must be sustained from them. His words of today are forever transcribed in the history books, along with the proceeding stack of blank pages on which he will commit tomorrow's realization of our hopes.

Indeed, we can proclaim all we want. The reality is at the end of the day is words are just that: words. But whether we live up to what we say or we fail to, it is our words that ultimately define who we are.

Words are just words. Without action, do they hold any meaning?

In our day and age it is easy to be cynical, to be doubtful. We hear the words, and while inspiring, that hope can be gone in one fleeting moment as we remember all the instances where words were just words, and action did not

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