A New Day

I know I echo the emotions of many Americans when I say that I woke to a different world today...a world without the damaging, bewildering, divisive personality that has lived in the White House (and in our heads) for the past five years. This certainly won't be the last we hear of him (as a friend texted me from Denver, "Let the indictments begin!") but we can hope to find ways to agree to disagree in order to begin to heal the gaping wounds he has opened. It somehow seems more possible now.  Even the television commentators seemed quite emotional. I certainly shed a few tears of relief.

The inauguration was historic in so many ways...carried out with dignity and decorum just two weeks after the capitol was ransacked by armed insurrectionists. We now have our first woman Vice President, and first woman of color occupying that high office. We have our first Second Gentleman who has given up his law practice in Oakland and will teach law at Georgetown University. The First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden has said, "Teaching is not what I do, it's who I am", and plans to continue teaching.
President Biden is the oldest man to occupy the highest office in the land, culminating a lifetime of public service. He promised to "Open my soul, not harden my heart". Once again we will have people at the head of our government who are thoughtful, who can form full sentences, people who read and who promise to be truthful and open.

Lady Gaga made the national anthem sound better than I have ever heard it. It is impossible to sing, not very tuneful and usually performed as if it was a dirge. She did none of those things. She wore a voluminous red skirt with a black top, a huge dove brooch and a strange braided hairstyle reminiscent of the Ukrainian politician, Yulia Tymoshenko., but she rocked the national anthem and pointed to the capitol just as the sun came out. The national youth poet laureate, Amanda Gorman, another first because she is just 23 years old, read her stunning poem, "The Hill We Climb".

There were no crowds on the National Mall which was surrounded (but discretely covered by the television cameras) by 25.000 National Guard troops. There was a display of 200,000 American flags honoring the 400.000 people who have died of Covid 19 in this country. There was no luncheon after the ceremony,  just an exchange of gifts (flags and crystal vases). There was no parade down Pennsylvania avenue. There was no send-off of the outgoing President and First Lady by the new ones, because the outgoing one chose not to attend the ceremony at all. Instead, the outgoing Vice President, who has been acting as the 'pretend president' whilst the 'real' one watched television and plotted revenge in the basement, were sent off by Vice President Harris and her husband. Everyone wore masks, except for Garth Brooks who shook hands and hugged every one as he exited after singing Amazing Grace a capella.
 
It was uplifting. It offered hope instead of hate.