A Great Weight Was Lifted

“In each of these moments, enough of us, enough of us have come together to carry all of us forward. “- Joseph Biden

Watching the inauguration today I quite literally felt a great weight lift from my soul. It feels hollow and trite to say that but its true. I turned on the inauguration in fear of a repeat of Jan 6th. Of some lone “patriot” doing something lethal. Instead, for the first time in four years, I  heard an American president reaching out to us all.

Trump is finally gone and in disgrace. His legacy remains though. The great well of bigotry and hatred that he personified is still there. The people that stormed the capital and who cheered them on haven’t vanished.

Racism. Greed. Apathy. They all still exist just as much as yesterday. They’ve merely lost their figurehead. They saw four years of encouragement. They were fueled by crass opportunism and almost had their way. They stood on the edge of complete dominance.

But they didn’t win.

Millions more people sided with compassion over hatred in the election. Fascism and authoritarianism tried to kill democracy on Jan 6th. But they failed. Our history of 200+ years of peaceful transitions of power have been blemished but not defeated.

The last four years have been heavy for us all to bear. Enough of us need to continue this fight every day or we’ll right back where we were. But today is a time for a new beginning. Today we can breathe easier. The first step away from the brink has been taken.

I’ll leave you with the new Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman’s “The Hill We Climb”

…We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it,

Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy.

And this effort very nearly succeeded.

But while democracy can be periodically delayed,

It can never be permanently defeated…

 

…Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed

a nation that isn’t broken

but simply unfinished…