January 20, 2021, Inauguration Day of a New President
“The Rock cries out to us today,
You may stand upon me,
But do not hide your face.”— Maya Angelou, “On the Pulse of Morning.”
I have been to two presidential inaugurations. Both were in the last century. One time I was with my daughter and once with my husband and friends. I remember festivities on the weekend before the inaugurations with Peter, Paul, and Mary singing in a tent on the mall. We go to a Blue Jean Bash with Bob Dylan and catfish and hush puppies. On inauguration day, there is an air of excitement as crowds fill the mall. The music is uplifting. There is always a sacred reading and the national anthem, as well as the hopes of the new president.
There is a feeling of newness, a new beginning with all its possibilities of being a part of making changes to give opportunities to people of our country whose lives seem hopeless because of suppression or disease as Maya Angelou reads her poem written for the day. “On the Pulse of Morning.”
We give thanks for the opportunities we know we have. We are empowered to make a difference in the lives of others. There is hope. We are there with every form of humanity, young babies crying, old people who can barely stand looking for a place to sit. We are so crowded together in one melting pot, so close that it is difficult sometimes to get our gloved hands out of our heavy coat pockets.
Only once did we try to go from the inauguration to our ticketed seats for the parade. I can only remember telling my teenaged daughter, “We will never make it,” trying to move against and with a tsunami wave of people. She kept telling me, “We can do it, we can make it,” and finally we did.
Of course, these scenes should not be possible today. Otherwise it would become a major virus spreader event. Also, we fear danger may be uninvited to the inauguration. We fear more for the lives of the new president and vice president and members of Congress.
In our wildest dreams, we never would have believed this would the scene for an inauguration in our country, but here we are.
What can we do?
We pray.
I know that prayers change the pray-er, and prayers are heard. Prayers are like some mystical force that goes out into the universe that can bring healing to places unknown and known. We pray to send love and protection to our country and its new leaders. We pray for those whose only response has now become violence. We know something led them to that. We pray to hear their story and reach out in love.
Joanna. joannaseibert.com