I was speaking with my Cuban poet friend this morning early/his late in Vietnam where he teaches English literature in high school. A beautiful human and a privilege to know, JC was describing how he felt after watching some moments of the American presidential inauguration on Vietnamese TV. “ Sentí un cierto alivio.”
It struck me then, with a sigh, that alivio is a just-right word to describe what many of us are feeling:
An easing, something ongoing - unlike “relief” that wooshes out of you hard. Life returns to a kind of normalcy, even if normalcy is not easy.
In keeping with this feeling, I’d like to celebrate the hopeful words we heard on Wednesday, only two weeks after the marauding attacks on the Capitol.
QUIZ - Can you match these phrases to their authors?
A Enough of us have come together to carry all of us forward.
B This day is commonplace and miraculous.
C My whole soul is in it.
D The cry for survival comes from the planet itself.
E Americans want to end the food fight.
F With every breath from my bronze-pounded chest, we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.
G There is truth and there are lies, lies told for power and for profit.
H This is our country. Teach us God to live in it, to be reconciled in it.
I It’s because being American is more than a pride we inherit. It’s the past we step into and how we repair it.
J Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished.
K Tonight is New Year’s Eve.
1 Rev. Silvester Beaman, Delaware pastor
2 Joe Biden, President
3 Roy Blunt, Republican Senator from Missouri
4 Ken Burns, Filmmaker (The Civil War)
5 Amanda Gorman, National Youth Poet Laureate
6 Van Jones, Political Commentator, CNN
SPANISH WORDS OF THE DAY:
Sentí un cierto alivio – I felt a kind of relief.
(The Spanish noun alivio comes from the Latin levare to raise, and lighten - similar to the English word alleviate.)
Este día es común y corriente y a la vez milagroso. – This day is commonplace and miraculous.
Mi alma esta enteramente en esto – My whole soul is in it.
Los Americanos quieren terminar la peléa familiar. - Americans want to end the food fight.
Esta noche celebramos un ańo nuevo. – Tonight is New Year’s Eve.
What is your mood a week after the American presidential inauguration? Are you hopeful? Will the two parties collaborate? Do you see areas where we will move forward? And about the trial…
Answers to Quiz:
A2, B3, C2, D2, E6, F5, G2, H1, I5, J5, K4