We did feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour.īut within it, we found the power to author a new chapter. In this truth, in this faith, we trust.įor while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us. Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy.īut while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated. We've seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it. It's because being American is more than a pride we inherit. That is the promise to glade, the hill we climb, if only we dare. If we're to live up to our own time, then victory won't lie in the blade, but in all of the bridges we've made.

Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree and no-one shall make them afraid. Not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division. That we'll forever be tied together, victorious. Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true. We seek harm to none and harmony for all. We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another. We close the divide because we know to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside. To compose a country committed to all cultures, colours, characters and conditions of man.Īnd so, we lift our gazes, not to what stands between us but what stands before us. We are striving to forge a union with purpose. And yes, we are far from polished, far from pristine.īut that doesn't mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect. We, the successors of a country and a time, where a skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president. Somehow we've weathered and witnessed a nation that isn't broken. We've learned that quiet isn't always peace and the norms and notions of what just is, isn't always justice.Īnd yet, the dawn is ours before we knew it. When day comes, we ask ourselves - where can we find light in this never-ending shade? The loss we carry, a sea we must wade. Mr President, Dr Biden, Madam Vice-President, Mr Emhoff, Americans and the world.

The hill we climb meaning