The Inauguration is over. As I write, I feel a mix of excitement, joy, and frankly, relief. A moving and peaceful day.
In 1992, I was back in the USA for a Christmas visit. I was still living and working in Kenya--this trip was an important chance to see my aging parents, visit friends and family, and enjoy some really good restaurants! (Eastern Africa is not renown for its cuisine, outside of Ethiopia.) At some point in my travels with my former partner, a Dutchman with deep American roots due to having been an exchange student, we decided to fly back to Washington, DC from San Francisco after a visit with family and friends to be part of the audience for the Inauguration of President Bill Clinton in January 1993. When might I have the opportunity again to see a President sworn in? (I followed the same logic for the seemingly magical union of Prince Charles and Princess Di in 1981. I got up at like 4 AM to watch live. After all, when might I have the opportunity to see a future British Monarch get married? The Crown has really shattered those perceptions!)
That 1993 Presidential Inauguration was exhilarating. The energy, the optimism, the (completely foreign, right now) giddy mixing with complete strangers. I'm admittedly a sucker for pageantry and tradition. (I always cry at university commencement.)
Today was also very moving and joyful on so many levels. As a female who came of age in the 1970s and was captivated and motivated by the women's movement (an early subscriber to Ms Magazine!) and subsequently devastated by the failure of the Equal Rights Amendment, the swearing in of Kamala Harris as Vice President was particularly poignant. Woman! Woman of Color! (Black and South Asian!) HBCU graduate! Beautiful and elegant to boot.
I'm also happy about Joe, for sure. But, hey, let's not forget the first community college professor in the White House, Dr. Biden! Stylish one as well. Not that I can afford that designer, but she has a future!
When I compare the two ceremonies what stands out the most is the poetry. I was excited to hear Maya Angelou, back in 1993. I had, after all, read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Her voice was lovely; her message moving. Today, I must admit I had not heard of Amanda Gorman. We all know her now. Powerful. A fresh voice. Worth listening to (here: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2021/01/20/Amanda-Gorman-22-becomes-youngest-inaugural-poet-in-US-history/2191611179389/ ) and reading. The text below. (I inserted the breaks, they may be inaccurate):
The Hill We Climb:
When day comes we ask ourselves,
where can we find light in this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry,
a sea we must wade
We've braved the belly of the beast
We've learned that quiet isn't always peace
And the norms and notions
of what just is
Isn't always just-ice
And yet the dawn is ours
before we knew it
Somehow we do it
Somehow we've weathered and witnessed
a nation that isn't broken
but simply unfinished
We the successors of a country and a time
Where a skinny Black girl
descended from slaves and raised by a single mother
can dream of becoming president
only to find herself reciting for one
And yes we are far from polished
far from pristine
but that doesn't mean we are
striving to form a union that is perfect
We are striving to forge a union with purpose
To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and
conditions of man
And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us
but what stands before us
We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,
we must first put our differences aside
We lay down our arms
so we can reach out our arms
to one another
We seek harm to none and harmony for all
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:
That even as we grieved, we grew
That even as we hurt, we hoped
That even as we tired, we tried
That we'll forever be tied together, victorious
Not because we will never again know defeat
but because we will never again sow division
Scripture tells us to envision
that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree
And no one shall make them afraid
If we're to live up to our own time
Then victory won't lie in the blade
But in all the bridges we've made
That is the promise to glade
The hill we climb
If only we dare
It's because being American is more than a pride we inherit,
it's the past we step into
and how we repair it
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
In this truth
in this faith we trust
For while we have our eyes on the future
history has its eyes on us
This is the era of just redemption
We feared at its inception
We did not feel prepared to be the heirs
of such a terrifying hour
but within it we found the power
to author a new chapter
To offer hope and laughter to ourselves
So while once we asked,
how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?
Now we assert
How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?
We will not march back to what was
but move to what shall be
A country that is bruised but whole,
benevolent but bold,
fierce and free
We will not be turned around
or interrupted by intimidation
because we know our inaction and inertia
will be the inheritance of the next generation
Our blunders become their burdens
But one thing is certain:
If we merge mercy with might,
and might with right,
then love becomes our legacy
and change our children's birthright
So let us leave behind a country
better than the one we were left with
Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest,
we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one
We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the west,
we will rise from the windswept northeast
where our forefathers first realized revolution
We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states,
we will rise from the sunbaked south
We will rebuild, reconcile and recover
and every known nook of our nation and
every corner called our country,
our people diverse and beautiful will emerge,
battered and beautiful
When day comes we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid
The new dawn blooms as we free it
For there is always light,
if only we're brave enough to see it
If only we're brave enough to be it