My advice to you, kids, is to take a look around today as you go about whatever your business may be. Take note of the details: the weather, the quality of the light, the snatches of conversation you overhear on the streets and in the shops, the general mood of the people you encounter. Because sometime in the future, a child may ask you what it was like the day one of the major political parties first nominated a black man for the office of the President of the United States.

It doesn’t matter whether you like Barack Obama personally. It doesn’t matter if you think he’s the savior of a fading nation or all flash and no substance. It doesn’t matter how you feel about the Iraq War or whether you’re a Democrat or Republican. It doesn’t even matter, in this context, whether Barack wins the general election in November. Because the mere nomination of this man is a thing of wonder. It’s a sign that the America we were told about by those Schoolhouse Rock cartoons when we were children — the country where all people are created equal, and where anyone can go as far as their aspirations and grit will take them — is not entirely a pipe dream. It’s easy to become cynical about that vision of America as we grow up and begin to understand that there are a lot of decks stacked against us, and as life batters us around and we gradually realize just how many of our countrymen — maybe even ourselves — have feet of clay.

But today, 45 years to the day after a brave man told us about a dream that must surely have seemed impossible — or at least highly improbable — to many of those who heard his words, we’ve done something that would have made him very proud. We’ve nominated a black man to the highest office in the land. It’s something that should’ve happened long ago, but no matter. Because the breakthrough has finally been made.

You may think I’m being melodramatic or making too big a deal of this. And maybe I am, as I’m prone to do. But I’m just thrilled to be witness to this moment. So often the big events that occur during our lifetimes, the things that are destined to go into the school books, are bad: the fall of Saigon, Watergate, the assassination of John Lennon, the destruction of the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia, the Oklahoma City bombing, 9/11. Death and destruction, followed by insecurity, soul-searching, and pain. But here’s something that is good, a moving-forward moment.

I’m not one of those who think Obama is a superhero. There are aspects of his campaign and his persona that I find frustrating, and I know that a nomination is a long way from an election, and that whoever takes the Oval Office in January is going to have a hell of a job in front of them. Nevertheless, I feel great pride in and hope for my country today.