On Inauguration Day 2017, I listened to new-President Trump wax poetic about America’s tradition of celebrating “an orderly and peaceful transition of power” every four years. Later, his speech painted a dark picture of America, describing “American carnage” that included “rusted out factories scattered like tombstones across our landscape” and an education system that left “our young and beautiful students deprived of all knowledge.”
Back then, even in my worst nightmares, I couldn’t imagine the American carnage we see today: an “orderly and peaceful transfer of power” that required 25,000 armed troops to prevent further attacks on the Capitol and elected officials, and more than 400,000 real tombstones for virus victims scattered across our landscape in less than a year.
I listened to President Biden’s Inaugural Speech and approved of most things he said, later noting the words he emphasized: dignity, respect, boldness, hope, my whole soul. But most forcefully he called for unity. The words sounded good, but I’d heard many of them used during the campaign and after, sometimes by more cynical politicians because they sound good but hold no real weight or requirement for action. As Biden noted, “Unity can sound like a foolish fantasy these days.” I wanted more, words that wouldn’t just inspire a believer like me, but that would reach beyond a divide that separates me from family, friends, and millions of anonymous reds, blues, and purples.
I was unprepared for Amanda Gorman. Black skin resplendent in her canary coat, and cardinal head band, she was armed with words that would soon take flight, but seemed a near-child in my elderly eyes. She was one of those students in 2017 who Trump imagined as “deprived of all knowledge,” yet she delivered wisdom and inspiration beyond measure. Like many others, I was captivated and inspired by her words and presence, but her performance rose above the sum of its parts, singing “Good morning” to a weary and anxious nation. An astounding successor to poets such as Langston Hughes, Robert Frost, and Maya Angelou at only 22 years old, she stared down the pain and strife of our current world without blinking, responding with words that soared into dreams framed by Black spirituals and MLK Jr., embodied by the Statue of Liberty, and summoned forth by songs such as This Land is Your Land, America the Beautiful, and We Shall Overcome.
After catching my breath and shaking my head, I thought of the almost interminable work facing Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. They are tasked with hashing out the often-tedious details, and then gaining support, for changes that will help supporters and opposers, or as Gorman describes, “all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man.” Theirs is a job with no end, and incessant demands on every side.
It takes more than words to advance beyond the “foolish fantasy” of unity, to gather American genius and energy and point it toward creating a society that feels safe, secure, and equitable; a place Gorman described, based on Bible scripture, where “everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, And no one shall make them afraid.”
But words matter. It was words that pushed an enraged mob into a deadly confrontation at the capitol, and it is words that will determine if Donald Trump is ever to run for office again, intent on sowing division. But words like Gorman’s can inspire us to “merge mercy with might, and might with right” so that “love becomes our legacy.”
I see the power of words as similar to that of electricity, nuclear fission, even dynamite, because they are not good or evil in and of themselves. Instead, they can be used to create, or to kill. If we heed the words of Amanda Gorman, a star in our midst, we may again see that our nation “isn’t broken but simply unfinished.” If you haven’t seen her, I encourage you to watch at https://bit.ly/3t2mpPX or other sites. I guarantee you the most moving and uplifting six minutes you’ve had in months.
Allen Woods is a freelance writer and author living in Greenfield. Comments are welcome here or at awoods2846@gmail.com.