Last spring, I began writing a pissed-off rant about the oral frothings of people eager to deny the grave sobriety of a deadly and raging virus. I got as far as an opening paragraph:
"Chanting feverishly of their rights, their breathless, all-caps FREEDOM!, a vocal minority of Americans are screaming themselves hoarse, demanding that the U S of friggin' A! must immediately re-open for business. Pandemic be damned. Screw public safety! The privileged few need haircuts and manicures. The economy must not suffer. Let other people suffer instead!"
And I stopped there. I was too angry to continue.
But now, we fast-forward. On Wednesday, I watched with joy and gratitude as my TV displayed images of President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris taking their oaths of office. I felt some of the anger recede. I felt a positive reassurance, a comforting sense of possibility.
I felt hope.
The anger is still there, stoked by more than four years of red-hatted misbehavior, culminating in a treasonous attack on our nation's capitol just two weeks ago. But the hope is beginning to reign in the anger. The idea of my country once again having a competent and functioning adult as its leader is reassuring and comforting. President Biden exudes humility and decency, qualities that have been lacking in the White House since January 20th of 2017.
As I watched President Biden's inaugural address, as I heard Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez and Garth Brooks lift us with song, and as I joined my fellow Americans in delighted, transcendent fascination in every syllable uttered by Amanda Gorman, I knew: we're gonna be okay. At long last, we're gonna be okay.
I'm still going to get mad sometimes. And I know that it will take more than the flip of a switch to reset all that has gone wrong over these miserable last four years. Things may still get worse before they get better. But they will get better. We have the will.
And we have the leadership.
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