Biden’s promise for America in a picture and a poem

Ican breathe. I know what those words mean today. And in a much broader context, our entire country breathed a huge sigh of relief this past Wednesday when Joseph R. Biden was inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States. With the ability to breathe comes the opportunity to pursue a better life — in all of its manifestations.

I can dream.

The United States was created by, built by, sustained by and is motivated by Americans who can dream of a better future — and who can communicate those dreams in a way that motivates all of us to make them real. And I can hope.

Even though hope is not a strategy — that’s what my mother taught me — it is that essential quality that allows each of us to work for better tomorrows.

The inauguration of President Joseph R. Biden on Jan. 20, 2021, allowed an overwhelming majority of Americans to breathe easier. Much easier. It allowed each of us — regardless of how we voted — to dream a little differently but to dream nonetheless.

And for most of us, it brought a sense of hope that the rancor we have felt daily, the division that has infected us and the violence that has defined us, while it will forever be a stain on our history, is something that we will overcome.

And that allows us all to hope that President Biden’s vision for a more unified country, for people pulling together, for neighbors helping neighbors, and for those entrusted to run our government working in a way that promotes a more perfect union, will come to pass.

While I found Biden’s entire Inaugural Day an inspiration, there were two other people who jumped out front and center when it came to telling the story about an America on the brink of better days.

Those two participants — one willingly and one not so much — are Amanda Gorman and Robert S. Duncanson.

In Amanda Gorman, the entire world saw a 22-year old poet — the youngest ever to read