Kevin Today I had plans for another topic, but since today is Inauguration Day, the day President-Elect Biden becomes President Biden, and Vice President-Elect Harris becomes Vice President Harris, I’m setting aside the original topic in favor of this one. I hesitated to even write this or post this, since politics aren’t the focus of this blog, and there’s plenty of other places for politics anyway.
However, as a blogger, I have a duty to myself and to you readers to acknowledge this important event in history.
Yesterday was the last day of the former president’s administration, and now we’ve moved forward with the changing of the guard. For so long, I’d held out hope that they would set aside their ideologies and their divisive rhetoric, step up to the plate, and be the leaders we needed.
No matter. What’s done is done. Today we’ve officially closed the book on the chapter of the former presidential administration. These past four years were difficult for a lot of us, and the past few days even more so.
Cleaning up the fallout from all this won’t happen overnight. We didn’t get into this mess overnight, either. Rebuilding and restoring faith in our elected leadership will take time, and for me, it’ll be awhile before I regain my faith in our leadership.
We kicked off today’s part of the ceremony with some really neat performances throughout the inaugural celebrations thus far, with a poem from Amanda Gorman, music from several different artists, dances from local drill teams, and words of encouragement from people like us all across the country. Like Amanda said, democracy was delayed, but it can never die.
Democracy wins out at the end of the day, and it always will. We’ve seen it time and time again throughout history.
Today, we start a new chapter in our history. A chapter of hope, unity, solidarity, and camaraderie starts now. I’m here for it, how ’bout you?
My takeaway from Amanda’s poem is this: it’s our duty to do our part to make this world a better place for our next generation. I want my future kids and yours to live in a world where divisiveness and prejudices coming from whatever elected Powers that Be is something they read about in a history book, and hear about from those of us who lived through it.
A good place to start is within our own communities. MLK Day was also the National Day of Service 2021, which I touched on the other day. Giving back to our communities and doing what we can to make this world a better place shouldn’t just be limited to one day, or taken as a “one good deed of the year” kind of deal. We need to make it part of our lives. Whatever we can do, even if it’s helping someone with getting their store hauls into their cars in the parking lot, or dropping off some unused and unopened pantry items at a food bank or a neighborhood free pantry, it adds up.
It doesn’t matter how big or small your good deeds are. It all counts for something, and that’s what matters as far as I’m concerned.
Going forward, I will indeed be watching President Biden and Vice-President Harris, and will do so with optimism, respect, and pride. I’m excited to see what’s coming next from them. I’m also excited to see what’s next for Amanda Gorman, also. How ’bout you?
Over to you, readers. Have you been watching the inauguration ceremonies? If so, what’s been your favorite part? Missed any of it? Join the club, haha. Lucky for us, we can play catch-up here at their website [EDIT 12-1-2021: This website no longer exists.]
