Today, as former Vice President Joseph R. Biden was sworn into office as the 46th president of the United States, and former California Senator Kamala Harris was sworn in as the first woman and first Black woman of Indian descent to be the vice president, “democracy prevailed” as proclaimed by the president in his inaugural speech.

As I sat in my living room early this afternoon in company with the members of my family, we found ourselves feeling more emotional than we had anticipated. It has been an incredibly challenging year, filled with devastation, tragedy, injustice, selfishness, insurrection and deceit –– all of which have inevitably taken a toll on us each as people and collectively as a nation. There has been a surplus of reasons for sentiments of grievance and hopelessness in the face of an administration which has not delivered the necessary and much warranted relief.

There has been disunity, amongst acts of treason and what can only be classified as domestic terrorism. There have been falsehoods, lies and broken promises. The very man who swore four years ago to “make America great again” posed as one of the biggest challenges to doing just that; the democracy that he swore to protect is the same one that he emboldened his supporters to perceive fraud in.

Today, however, as Biden stood up to deliver the official inaugural address, the millions of Americans who voted for him (and even some of those who didn’t), felt something that they likely haven’t in a very long time: hope.

The president spoke prophetically, with inspiration from his own Catholic faith and from past leaders of this nation whom he looks up to, about the various issues and events that have plagued our nation in the last two weeks, the last year, the last four years, and even before then. In doing so, Biden established his clear rhetoric as president, one that starkly contrasts with that of his predecessor ––a rhetoric of empowerment, dressed in honesty, and presented through a lens of realism.

In his address, Biden recognized the countless tragedies that have occurred in this country at the hands of bigotry and systemic racism and referenced the all too recent attack on the U.S. Capitol as nothing short of treason. As expected, the 46th president dedicated much of the length of his dialogue to speaking about the COVID-19 pandemic and the more than 400,000 lives lost as a result of the virus. As the president remarked on these dark but significant points, he too spoke of notions and truths which appear to be more promising, such as the possibility for national unity to be restored and for democracy to be upheld. Biden spoke to the obvious and contentious division of Americans at this time but assured everyone watching that he would be “a president for all Americans.”

“Politics doesn’t have to be a raging fire, destroying everything in its path. Every disagreement doesn’t have to be a cause for total war. And we must reject the culture in which facts themselves are manipulated, and even manufactured,” declared the president.

One of the main questions asked of the new president and vice president prior to their inauguration was if they would be able to repair the deep-seated division of the nation. Sure, Trump would be out of office, but his supporters remain. While there is no finite end to that question, one can find optimism and encouragement in the tone Biden set today. He made clear attempts to reach those who have strongly opposed him, going so far as to speak to directly to them in his speech and to ask them sincerely, “Give me a chance.”

Whether you voted for Biden or not, found his speech promising or not, he is now the 46th president of the United States, just as Trump was the 45th. Though the two seem opposite in just about every category, it seems as though Biden and Harris are setting out to do the same thing Trump and Pence tried to do, to make America great again, and if there is one thing we should be able to be in agreement of as citizens of this country, it is the mutual desire each of us have to see our country prevail and to be better than it has been.