A Source of Light in this Never-Ending Shade

When day comes, 

we step out of the shade,

aflame and unafraid. 

The new dawn blooms as we free it. 

For there is always light 

if only we're brave enough to see it,

if only we're brave enough to be it. 

"The Hill We Climb"

-Amanda Gorman,

National Youth Poet Laureate of the

United States

On January 20, 1989, I was a twenty-one-year-old senior at the University of Colorado, Boulder. In November, 1988, I had voted in a Presidential election for the first time, voting for George H.W. Bush in his successful quest to become this nation's forty-first President.  Having not turned eighteen until February, 1985, I had been too young to vote in the 1984 election.  

I am a Republican. I have been a registered Republican since I first registered to vote in 1985 as an eighteen-year-old high school senior.  I did not vote for Mr. Trump in 2016 or 2020.  This year, I crossed party lines to vote for Joseph R. Biden, Jr. for President. While I suppose something might transpire in the next four years to make me question that vote, nothing has in the two-and-one-half months since Election Day. 

I am a sucker for tradition and for ceremony.  While I worked on various matters on Wednesday morning, I had ABC's coverage streaming through my computer, beginning with Mr. Trump's departure from Andrews Air Force Base.  His decision to boycott the Inauguration did not surprise me. It did, however, disappoint me.  The fraternity of living former Presidents of the United States is comprised of five men.  Five. The only one other than its newest member, POTUS 45, who did not attend the Inauguration was President Jimmy Carter.  President Carter's absence was due to the continuing menace of COVID-19. Mr. Trump's was not. 

But I digress. 

I had the great good fortune Wednesday morning of having come across a post on the Instagram feed of The New York Times upon which my long-time friend and college roommate, Jay Bauer, had either commented upon or "liked", which post was my introduction to Amanda Gorman. At twenty-two, she is a Harvard University graduate, the first National Youth Poet Laureate of the United States, and now the youngest poet ever to recite at the Inauguration. 

After President Biden's speech, Ms. Gorman recited her poem, "The Hill We Climb".  As I watched her, I could not help but thinking how extraordinary twenty-two-year-old Amanda Gorman is - and not simply in comparison to twenty-two-year-old Adam Kenny.  

Thirty-two years ago, the first President for whom I had ever voted used his Inaugural Address to remind his fellow Americans of, " A thousand points of light, of all the community organizations that are spread like stars throughout the Nation, doing good".   On Wednesday, Amanda Gorman reminded us that not only are sources of light still needed, but they still exist in these United States, helping us navigate our way through the darkness cast by the never-ending shade.  

Amanda Gorman - "The Hill We Climb"

January 20, 2021 

-AK