Sometimes we are witnesses to history that we aren’t expecting — frequently when tragedy strikes — and we have no way to know how we’ll respond. And then there’s the history we’re prepared to witness, like the swearing in of a new president. But even then, we can’t really know how we’ll react. Yesterday is an example of the latter.

When President Barack Obama took the oath of office, I was standing next to the Washington Monument, surrounded by millions of people who had traveled from the far reaches of these United States to witness history. Many of those around me were African American, and the tears were flowing freely along with the cries of “Hallelujah!” I don’t mean to downplay the stunning diversity of this event — there were people of every racial and ethnic background — but it was striking how many African Americans had come to be a part of history.

I spoke to an African American woman from Oroville, California, who had arrived a few nights before and was staying in Baltimore. She and her family got on a train from Baltimore at 4 a.m. to be there in time to see the first black President swear on the Bible, used by Abraham Lincoln at his swearing-in, to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. She was bundled up against the cold, including wearing a huge hat and ski mask, to the point that if I saw her on the street back in California I probably wouldn’t recognize her. But I could see clearly that her eyes were brimming with tears and joy, and her voice trembling with emotion when she said she had to be there to be a part of it. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Her words were echoed by nearly every person I spoke to, including a student from Duke University who had arrived from North Carolina with several friends on Saturday. They wanted to be able to tell their future children, not yet born, that they had been there.

What kind of country will their children inherit? Obama addressed the millions in attendance with a sometimes starkly depressing message: “Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.” The threat of global warming made it into the first few minutes of Obama’s speech, reflecting the new priority it will have for this administration (and which was sadly lacking from the previous one).

But Obama was not without bold solutions: “For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.”

President Obama made it crystal clear in his speech: the greening of America will play a central role in its economic — and, dare I say, moral — renewal. And this new direction, I’m certain, will also make history.