Wednesday, January 20th, 2021 will be highlighted as a red-letter day on the pages of American history. We join with all well-wishers worldwide to say congratulations to America on the occasion of the inauguration of its 46th President, the Honourable Joseph Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
President Biden’s path to the position of Commander in Chief was a rather tumultuous one, having vied for the post of President on the Democratic ticket in 1988 and again in 2008, before finally winning the Democratic nomination in 2020. Since then, he gracefully emerged as victor against former President Donald Trump in the controversial presidential elections of November last.
The tumults of the path to Wednesday’s inauguration were made even more pronounced by the gripes of the former President who had, for almost three months, been constantly claiming to have won the elections, even in the face of reality which included a series of re-tallying of swing state votes. And despite his losses at several attempts to appeal to the Supreme Court to counteract the indelible election records, the former President continued to propagate the notion that he was indeed the winner of the “stolen election”. Further, the tumults of the path to Biden’s presidential inauguration were made no less daring by the January 6th Trump-initiated insurrection at the nation’s Capitol Building.
Anyone and everyone who has viewed the run-up to this landmark inauguration, even from afar off, can vouch to the fact that incoming President Joseph Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris will have a daunting task as they put their faces to the flint to work towards the restoration of an America divided. Obviously, the political divide has posed an immense crisis for this incoming administration.
What adds to this crisis is the blight of evident racial injustice and outspoken prejudices, aggravated by incidents of police brutality and the uprising of the determinant “Black Lives Matter” movement. And then, there is the greatest elephant in the room. It is the predicament brought on by the horrific COVID-19 pandemic which has stealthily taken the lives of over 400,000 Americans since last March. The economic implications, human grief, and social hardships, brought on by this notorious pandemic which has wielded the greatest attack on the United States of America, are enormous — astronomical to say the least.
Perhaps the greatest task with which the incoming administration would have to contend will be in its efforts to re-unite the people of the United States. Yes, there had always been subtle indications of fissures and cracks in the blocks that build such unity. Every society has its flaws. But never before in the annals of recent history have the building blocks of unity been so violently shaken — and yes, some have crumbled.
The onus to rebuild now rests on, not only the Biden administration, but on America’s people at large. The onus rests upon the shoulders of the people who must now become awaken to the civic conscience of promoting an America with a mantra that embraces a “one for all, and all for one” philosophy. This is the mandate of the new President who has vowed to be the President of all Americans.
In line with the factor of unity and harmony, I would wish to borrow a quote from that dramatic poem presented by twenty-two year-old Amanda Gorman on inauguration Day: “We are far from polished and far from pristine, but that does not 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…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…one thing is certain: if we merge mercy with might, and might with light, then love becomes our legacy.”
While setting out to restore unity to the union in this dark era of America’s history, the Biden administration, though democratic in nature, would do well to borrow from former Republican President George Bush’s “thousand points of light” philosophy. May God shed His grace upon America, and may He infuse into the hearts of all Americans his light of love and peace that will defy the shadows of strife and conflict.
And regardless of the political divide, I trust that God will help this new president to find virtue and fulfillment in diligently mending the broken fences that will once again restore America and keep her prosperous, safe and secure as the “land of the free and the home of the brave.”
