If you don’t feel it yet, you will soon. In under 48 hours we will be at one of those “moments” few experience in a lifetime. In recent decades, there has been a small number of these moments. The Assassination of JFK. The March on Washington. The Landing on the Moon. The Fall of the Wall. And, of course, September 11.

On Tuesday, January 20, 2009, the world will experience its first such “moment.” For we will be watching the inauguration of the world’s first genuinely global president. This is not a minor occasion. This moment is so big, so emotional, so historic and transformational, that to put it into pedestrian words mocks its significance.

But I will try.

To know this moment you must first have an open heart. And if you do, and pay close attention, you will see exceptional warmth and goodwill radiating from perfect strangers. And, if you are quiet and reflective, you will feel the magnitude of this occasion in the most mundane actions. It could be late at night fixing a snack in your kitchen. It could be in the shower in the morning. In a walk in the park. In your loved one’s arms. But you will feel it, I guarantee you will feel it, if you let it inside.

This moment is not about the messy, imperfect, and far-from-pure business of making policy sausage. It’s not about political appointments, budget cuts, sundry wars and grievances. It’s not even about the words this extraordinary man will speak or the way he will speak them.

This is about a long-ago promise finally being kept. This is about a country, founded on the premise of liberty and justice for all, which will not have fulfilled its destiny until Barack Obama puts his hand on Lincoln’s Inaugural Bible to become the 44th, and first African-American, President of the United States. Amidst the thousands of cameras that will flash in that instant, there will be millions of souls shedding an avalanche of tears. Many of us are already shedding those tears, as we take in the importance of what we are about to experience.

But it’s not enough to talk about it, write about it, or anticipate it. It’s vitally important that we as a nation share this moment in real time. And it’s vitally important that the world share in this moment in real time too. Because for once, for one glorious moment, we as a nation and as a global community of friends have a chance to feel as one.

We should not miss this chance. Though we have many disagreements between us and much work that needs to be done, this moment should not be squandered. For this moment will give us the energy and fortitude to tackle our problems with verve and compassion.

So, please, grab a friend, grab a child, grab a stranger, especially grab those so lost in their own suffering or delusion that they have no clue what this moment portends, and make them watch. Make them witness. Make them feel.

Despite all the misgivings the world has about us, despite our own misgivings about our actions here and abroad, America is still that shining city on a hill. What we say, what we do has more effect on the lives of ordinary people than any other nation. And what we will do as a nation on January 20 will indeed change the game globally in ways we can only begin to perceive now.

This is not some idle, specious rhetoric from a diehard devotee. This is from the heart of a man who actively campaigned against Barack Obama during the Democratic primary and at times questioned his readiness for national office during the general election. Yet I know when History – with a capital Hegelian H -- speaks. I know when all the theoretical and political objections must suddenly take a back seat to a force greater than one’s mind can conjure. And we, my friends, are about to experience the full vigor of that force.

But amidst the expiation and joy of this moment, let us not forget the long journey that led us here. We have been, at times, a truly reprehensible nation. From the racial discrimination written into our very constitution, to the pernicious institution of slavery, Dred Scott, Plessy V. Ferguson, lynchings, cross burnings, church burnings, redlining, and all manner of institutionalized and non-institutionalized bigotry, we Americans are guilty of horrible misdeeds.

But we are a nation built on the promise of redemption. And on the morning of January 20, we have a chance for redemption like none we’ve had before. With one oath, taken by one man, we will suddenly release all the ghosts of Jim Crow past, all the screams of raped and beaten slaves, all the sorrow and bitterness of men and women unjustly imprisoned or accused because of the color of their skin.

This is not a minor moment, my friends. This is not piece of media theatre we can simply digest and toss away. This is the culmination of 233 years of thought and passion, violence and forgiveness. And it is the capstone work of men and women, like me, like you, who have tirelessly lent a hand to those who simply, because of their race, did not have it as easy as they should have. For those who were part of the 1950s and 1960s civil rights moment, to those who worked for divestiture from apartheid South Africa, to those who served as teachers, coaches and mentors at inner city schools, this moment is a testament to your selfless faith and devotion.

I join with you in celebrating this moment with all the pent-up pride and emotion I can muster. Whatever may come to us, whatever may come between us, we will always have this moment to remind us of how big and noble we can be as a people. Let’s be there for it.