American catharsis

It’s gone. The malevolent incompetence that plagued our nation for four years is finally gone. Or at least its chief instigator is gone. And yesterday we celebrated. Oh, how we celebrated!

It wasn’t just an Inauguration Day. Yes, we swore into office a new president and vice-president. But we also celebrated our strength and diversity, our ability to survive chaos and emerge on the other side, more determined than ever to be the nation we’ve always known we are.

We paid homage to those who came before, to the forefathers who created this nation, to the soldiers who fought to defend it, and to the hundreds of thousands who couldn’t be there because of the pandemic still stalking us.

Yesterday we laughed, we cheered, we prayed, we sang, we fired cannons … and a few of us even hugged. And at the very end, a spectacular fireworks show, one of the best ever. Or so it seemed when viewed through grateful, tear-filled eyes.

There remains a monumental task — the rebuilding of trust, the vanquishing of the pandemic, the binding up of the nation’s many wounds. It won’t be easy. It won’t be quick. But at least now there is hope that we can someday return to being the nation we were. Or perhaps to something even wiser and greater.

11 thoughts on “American catharsis

  1. johnthecook…As long as there are a great many Americans who feel that the final outcome of the 2020 Presidential Election was tainted ,there never will be peace and unity in America. A true saying…A lie does not become truth; wrong doesn’t become right; and evil doesn’t become good just because it is accepted by a majority.

    1. John, it’s true that the majority is not always right, but one attribute about the Biden administration is shining brightly: it embraces both transparency and science. When the two are combined, with rigorous peer review, the difference is amazing. Dr. Fauchi, for one, so testifies.

    1. She put way more thought into those mittens than I did. I hadn’t thought beyond Bernie being a sensible old man who dressed for the weather. And of course I’ve enjoyed all the cute meme photos.

... and that's my two cents