Today I had the opportunity to hear from Colin Powell, James Carville, Mary Matalin, and several members of the press and they all shared similar thoughts and ideas, two of which really made an impact on me. One, that this is a historical inauguration on many levels and two, that my generation, the millennials, have the world at our fingertips and it is our responsibility to care for the world to the best of our ability.

I think both of these factors were very evident in this past election. Not only did the nation elect its first African American president, but it did so with the help of the millennials and very useful tools such as the Internet and social networking sites. Electing Barack Obama as president was possibly the first and most important step the millennials have taken to secure their future and the future of the nation as a whole.

I was one among the close to a million people today at the opening celebration concert at the Lincoln Memorial. All around me were young and old and all of different ethnicities, social groups, economic backgrounds, and there were even people from different countries around the world. I had a conversation with a girl my age from the Czech Republic who was very excited to be here in D.C. to see the inauguration of a man she said would be able to bring the international community together. People were mingling, singing, and dancing together at the concert. And it didn't matter where we all came from, the important thing was we were all there for one thing, and that was to celebrate the inauguration of Barack Obama. I believe this election brought our nation, and the world, closer and I hope that this continues into the future. I am very excited to see the bond between everyone continue to grow over the next couple of days as we welcome our new president.