Here We Are Again

Today a new president was sworn into office.

It was a beautiful ritual that made me cry.  It also made me sing, and made me long for a place that was spoken about at length.  I soared in song and words and poetry.  I witnessed a tradition that seemed somehow more important than it ever had.  And yet....

I wonder how long the message of unity will last before it fractures.  I wonder if the wheels of bureaucracy will care about this renewal of the American covenant.  Will it change with the new president, or will it be the same as it ever was?  Will anyone who stormed the steps of the capitol over two weeks ago have seen the same message I saw today and be moved by it?  Or will they note with bitterness the seeming hypocrisy, and lament that truth, justice, and the American way have been trampled upon by those they deem unworthy of it?

Biden mentioned this "uncivil war" in which our country has been engaged (and my sincere congratulations to whomsoever thought up those words and wrote them into President Biden's inaugural address.)  But I am left to wonder if, four years from now, the words that were spoken today will have had some lasting effect--that those who pledged to follow the President and strive for unity truly had any real success.

And while I want to stand in that moment of hope that today represents, I am left with the wilted spirit of worry that the very ideas President Biden espouses are nothing more than words.  I feel heavy with doubt that those who seek power and money will seek any real kind of reform or change, or if, as I suspect will be the case, they will simply be able to better hide their evils because we'll be unwilling to challenge them for fear that it will cause further divide.

And so, here we are again.  And though the face may have changed, and the rhetoric may have differed, the problems that America must confront remain the same.  Our infrastructure is still crumbling.  Our planet is still being polluted.  Our poor still suffer.  And though there is talk of Change, the reality of that change feels infinitely far away--or worse, not even there.

I want to believe in the American Dream, but I wonder if there is anything left of her--or if she's been bought and sold to the highest bidders after all.

But, as foolish as it might seem, I will still hope that things will get better.

For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it.
If only we’re brave enough to be it.
~~ Amanda Gorman "The Hill We Climb"~~

Chang W. Lee/The New York Times