Historical Inauguration Day of 2021
January 20, 2021 was the special day that everyone in the United states had been waiting for. History was being created in Washington DC. The Inauguration Day, the day when president Donald Trump left the white house after four years of presidency as the newly elected 46th president Joe Biden and his family were moving in. Early in the morning, I rushed down to turn on the TV, as I didn’t want to miss anything. I tried to catch up with the news between my virtual school. Around noon, during my lunch break, I watched important parts of the ceremony. I was excited to see the decorations around the US Capitol Hill along with lots of popular people Including previous presidents, senators, their families and celebrities attending the inauguration to welcome our new president.I was so proud to witness the historical inauguration.
Last year(2020) was terrible for us Americans, as we suffered due to pandemic, lost 400,000 lives, faced racial injustice, violence and insurrection. But this inauguration showed a light of hope in the darkness. My family was glued to the TV the whole day. We were overjoyed with feelings of hope and optimism.
There are many reasons for why I feel this inauguration was the best. Through this blog I will share with you my thoughts.
- Oath of Office by 46th US President Joe Biden and his speech:
The oath of office is a very important oath of the inauguration. It was a powerful moment as I watched Mr President place his hand on the family bible and say an oath to keep the promise for the country. Mr President’s speech touched many hearts specially, when he said that it doesn’t matter if people did not vote for him because he will treat them the same way he treats his supporters. Keeping Republican and Democratic parties away from grudges and even legalizing many things that previous president,Donald Trump had banned. He also promised to unite our divided nation. He spoke about controlling the pandemic and vaccines.
- The wonderful Inauguration Day performances: Patriotic songs by pop stars Jennifer Lopez (JLO) and Lady Gaga.It was surprising that this year they had pop stars for the inauguration ceremony. The performance became viral as the singing was so impressive. My favorite was the national anthem, ‘Star spangled banners’ sung by Lady Gaga.
- A heartwarming poem by young poet Amanda Gorman: Amanda Gorman’s story is so inspiring. Amanda had grown up having trouble saying the words starting with’ R’. The fact that inspired me the most, was that she pushed through and worked on her R’s . The poem that she recited on the Inauguration Day had the word ‘Rise’ five times and she did a great job. Her poem was extremely powerful and impressive. I really liked how Gorman used lines from Martin Luther King’s ,“I have a dream’ speech and quotes by Fredrick Douglass saying: “Being American is more than a pride we inherit, it’s the past we step into and how we repair it,” “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”
My favorite line was:
“There is always light if only we’re brave enough to see it, if only we’re brave enough to be.” Another powerful line from the poem was: “We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace,” “And the norms and notions of ‘what just is’ isn’t always ‘justice.”
- Many positive steps by president Joe Biden on this day:
After 4 sour years, Mr President had finally ordered mask mandate at government offices, unbanned Muslim Immigrants, rejoined World health organization and many good changes within one day. I finally had a good feeling of 2021.President Biden has great goals for the 100 days of his presidency.
- Historic moment when Kamala Harris took the oath as the first female Vice President of the United states: It was an inspirational moment for me and many girls of color. Kamala Harris’s achievement reminded me of Mr Obama’s words, “Yes we can” which emphasized that we are not alone and that you can be whoever you want to be. Just the day before the inauguration, I had watched a video of a sweet moment as Madam Vice President told her great niece Amara (Age 4) that she could be the president one day and could do anything she wanted. To honor our new Vice President I made a piece of art where I drew a picture of Madam VP Kamala Harris with lines from the poem ‘Brown girl Brown girl what do you see?”written by Lesle Honore.
- End of the day celebration: America had ended the day with a beautiful fireworks and wonderful song of “Firework” by Katy Perry. The Biden family had celebrated the evening with virtual performances, including dancing and music.Kamala Harris’s favorite dish called “Gumbo” a special type of food from Louisiana was part of the menu. As I was celebrating the occasion , I decided to make an inauguration cake. I used a blue velvet cake mix and some red icing to decorate it.My end of the day activity mainly included baking a cake while watching the news. Surprisingly, the blue cake with red icing of ‘Biden Harris 2021”,turned out great. (You can see it on my mom’s twitter @PinkyJha). The post got a lot of likes. As I finished icing up the cake, the fireworks had just started and it was the best fireworks I had ever seen. I enjoyed the dinner and the inauguration cake with my family.
Here I end my blog with a few lines from Amanda Gorman’s inauguration poem.
“We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace,” “And the norms and notions of ‘what just is’ isn’t always ‘justice.'”
“We will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one … There is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.”