I ran the Wednesday seven after taking in the inauguration of our new president. The morning was cold, 33 degrees when I set out a little before ten out here on the left coast and not much warmer at the end of the run. Bernie's mittens would have felt good as I ran past Franklin High School east to 71st Avenue and on up to Mt. Tabor Park at 72nd and Harrison, around the south side of the park and over to Lincoln, 34th, and home. At this stage of my career there are precious few days when I find my stride and feel like I am just loping along. But there remains something to it that is like nothing else. My heart is made light, my spirit bright.
I blinked back tears a few times during President Biden's inaugural address, when Kamala Harris took the oath of office as Vice President, and at other moments during the proceedings. It has been an emotional four years closed out by the two and a half months since Election Day for which words fail me. How many times during the previous administration did we ask how the latest outrage could possibly be happening in our country? Yet it was. Today my heart is made a bit lighter, my spirit a notch brighter.
There will be more opportunity than anyone would relish to weigh in on the troubles that beset us and the challenges they bring, which unfortunately did not accompany the former president to internal exile at his estate in south Florida. Today's fleeting moments bring a measure of hope. Biden and Harris will not get everything right. There will be times when I disagree, sometimes vehemently, with this policy or that course of action. Even so, I believe with all my heart and spirit that Biden and Harris bring hope that we can begin to dig a little bit out from under the moral, spiritual, and intellectual rubbish heap that is the legacy of the previous administration. Their assumption of high office brings a return to principles of decency and respectfulness in our government and in our civic life. This is something to treasure for today's fleeting moments.
Keep the faith.