Magic Moments
Sometimes there are unscripted moments, magic moments, that tell you more about a person than thousands of words ever can:
Stephon stood just a few feet away from Barack Obama. The president, busy shaking hands, looked right at him. “It was like he was waiting for me to say something,” he said later.
So the 26-year-old Prince George’s Community College student took his cue and spoke to President Obama in his first language: American Sign Language. “I am proud of you,” Stephon signed. The president, almost involuntarily, instinctively, immediately signed back.
“Thank you,” Obama replied.
This is one of those moments that humanize the office of the presidency:
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WC’s grandniece is deaf, so perhaps this resonates more with WC than it might otherwise. But for WC, this is magic.
Wow. I had no idea President Obama knew ASL, with all his other accomplishments. And to think his predecessor could barely manage ASE — American Spoken English.
freshwatersnark
March 25, 2012 at 9:49 am