President Biden’s inauguration address was the work of the Supreme Art
Dear Editor,
In nearly 21 minutes and nearly 2,600 words, the 46th President of America, Joseph Biden, shone through the transcendence of American craftsmanship and American elegance that echoed across a watchable and watchable, wicked listening globe. From my point of view, this is the exhilarating essence of American individual greatness, in the themes touched on by the new president assuming the mantle of office in a turbulent atmosphere and in the tones that embraced and extended exactly with what he had left and poisonous ground needed to ease his fears and wipe his tears.
As inauguration addresses went, Mr. Biden’s final product was supreme artwork. It touched the senses, excited the hairs at the back of the neck, and gave somber reassurance that the greatness – the true grandeur – of America was still there to be tapped and increased and tasted. After all the toxins, a long winter of political discontent, it was humbling, as an American, to hear of working for peace, vigorous and genuine efforts toward unity, and of racial justice and harmony. There are many pieces to pick up, and President Biden chose the first little ones, even if only in loud words. If I were so fine as to measure his words, I think, on the Beauford scale, they were registered with all the might of force 12. In physics, there is something called radiation; on Wednesday, Joe Biden dared to bring American prosperity to its knees, but one still shining with promise, with hope that attracts millions from all over, with dreams of a place blessed with so many, yet forced that to come to him grasping with his dark side and his worst nightmares.
Perhaps, that self-discovery was also needed, were it not for the cathartic power it generates in response. And on Inauguration Day, the new president was the catharsis for which an American has been crawling in vain, and for the longest time. I heard that favorite one that still has the power to strike a chord: not all differences of opinion equate to a difference of principle. It must not degrade to that, and it must be embraced as a sacred principle. Mature men and women do that, live by that code; they are wiser and stronger and better for it. It’s time to say, let’s end the easy readiness for total war for what civilized men and civilized times must be the best that can be found in us.
The president has set himself high in order, and his vision and cause are not aided by a bitter and hopelessly divided society. But it does not seem to flutter or stumble before the circumstances, the tough challenges that stand against its program, its exact presence. He must go forward firmly, with a keen ear to listen to the rhythms and cadences of his countrymen, including those scattered across far and wide parts of the world. President Biden will succeed if he is honest and humble, and alongside those two cornerstones, there must be the honorable. I wish him well. I expect a lot from him and his team. America needs it, as does the rest of the world. I need it and we can use it, after four exhausting years of the memorable and the completely forgotten. Except there is so much that cannot be forgotten, because if it is done, it is to the peril of the individual and the broad group.
I welcome President Joseph Biden, and since I wish him all the best, I leave him with the words of that sublime Roman orator, Cicero: salus populi suprema esto, which translates to: welfare should the people be the highest law. As we have learned to our great anxiety and distress, it should never be: regis voluntas suprema lex (the king’s will is the supreme law). That was practiced and failed abominably. Now, Mr. Biden has to work tirelessly to undo the damage and restart along a decent and dignified alternative path. He has remade some embers with the right words. Now it must begin the correct steps that have been tried. Amen.
Truly,
Lall GHK