Most likely, at the top of many Americans’ wish lists for 2021 included the departure of President Donald Trump and a victory over the COVID-19 pandemic.
The November 3 election results affirmed American voters’ wishes to see an end to the Trump presidency. They grew weary of his leadership and disgusted with his negativism and divisiveness. They wished he would stop spewing words of hatred, promoting conspiracy theories and invoking lies.
Just days into the new year, many Americans wished for a swift repudiation of the now-former president following the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6 which he orchestrated. Now, we see the outer shell of what America may look like when some of these top wish list items begin to come true.
Their voices were heard with their votes that ushered in a new presidency. President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., who took the oath of office on Wednesday, Jan. 20, officially became the nation’s 46th president.
Their wishes were also fulfilled beyond their expectations when President-elect Biden named California Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate – even further fulfilled this week when she became the first African American, Asian American and female vice president in this country’s history.
If wishes can come true, Americans have proven it so.
Their wish to end a pandemic that has taken the lives of more than 400,000 Americans was answered with a COVID-19 vaccine. But they’re getting impatient with the slow rollout, delaying their wish for life to return to normal.
Still, not every American was dissatisfied with Trump, nor are they willing to take a vaccine. They haven’t learned what Georgians found out – that while wishes do come true it takes hard work.
Americans cannot stop wishing for what they want from a new administration as it takes shape, a nation beginning to heal and a vaccine ending a pandemic. But their wishes require more – the will to do the work which will be required to make things happen.