For Generations to Come

            For generations to come... It's a phrase that's been around forever, but for the first time, it has completely new implications. In the past, it has meant that our actions will be remembered forever with pride and admiration. Today, it is more of a foreshadowing for the possibility of failure. America's future is no longer as certain as it once was, and for the first time, we really have to worry whether our country's choices (such as those involving our increasingly insurmountable debt) today will lead to our future generations' prosperity or poverty.
            Perhaps this is what Obama (or at least his speech-writer) had in mind when he wrote his inaugural speech and its unprecedented seven uses of the word "generation." It's not just Obama either: other recent presidents have used it as many as five times. However, it wasn't until the time of Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson that it appeared more than one or two times in a speech. What that means to me is that today's presidents are getting more and more worried about the future of upcoming generations, and indeed the future of the entire nation. We have survived through civil war, world wars, and even the threat of nuclear fallout, but we may yet end up destroying ourselves.
           At one point Obama said, "...gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations." I can't be sure of the context since this was the only portion the website gave me, but what I inferred was this: past generations have secured the rights given by the constitution, but it is our duty now to ensure that the American traditions of freedom and prosperity continue unabated. It's a daunting task for sure, but it's one that we must commit to with ardor.