There was dancing in the streets Saturday. In cities large and small — including here in South Park and Greenmont. Not just across the United States, but in countries around the world. Impromptu celebrations broke out in Toronto, London and Berlin.
Just think about that for a moment.
A relief so potent that it transforms into a joy so powerful people break out into song and dance. As footage of revelries rolled on multiple news stations, it felt more like a dream — a very good dream — than reality.
It says less about President-elect Joe Biden than it does about President Donald Trump.
Trump’s presidency has been an emotional burden to many. The source of constant and seemingly never-ending stress. Every day for the past four years, he made the headlines — and rarely for anything good. His time in the White House has been a series of scandals — personal and political; his own and those of the people around him — so numerous that it’s been nearly impossible to keep up with them all. It’s not that America is head-over-heels for Biden; it’s that so many Americans are exhausted from constantly hearing about Trump.
When it was announced Trump’s days in the Oval Office are numbered, many wept. Some grieved the end of his presidency. Trump made his supporters feel seen and heard. He offered them something beyond politics as usual.
But so many more wept because the floodgates had been opened: Four years’ worth of worry, agony, anxiety — of anger, frustration and helplessness — poured out. For one blissful moment, it could all be let go, and it released in a torrent of tears. And in its wake was left a spark of hope.
But hope is a double-edged sword. Because while it can lift us and sustain us, hope can also hurt us more than almost anything. And the future is not certain.
The election results are not certified. Trump and his people have already filed their lawsuits. Some states will be forced to recount. Announcements have been made that the results will be challenged all the way to the Supreme Court. He might be a lame-duck president now, but he still has around 2 1/2 months left in the White House. The fight isn’t over yet.
All things considered, it’s unlikely the outcome of the 2020 presidential election will change. The prediction made Saturday is likely to come true. But we’re afraid to hope that this is real, that America has a chance to start anew and begin healing from the divisiveness of the last four years. Our country may still be deeply divided, but it will help to have a leader who does not intentionally widen the national wound or throw gasoline on the fires of discontent.
For some of us, this won’t feel real until Jan. 20. 2021, when Biden is inaugurated and makes official his promise to be a president for all Americans. That’s when we’ll believe that change can happen, that the future can be brighter. Until then, we will nurse this little hopeful flame and let its warm glow sustain us.
