OLD JOE'S THREE LETTER WORD

Today is Inauguration Day in the United States, and President Joe Biden was sworn into office just hours ago.

He took the oath of office approximately fifteen minutes before twelve PM, and began his inaugural address at about 1150am. All that to say, Mr. Biden was still the President Elect when he took the oath, and for the first ten minutes of his first presidential speech.

As the minutes ticked away, and ole (and he is old) Brother Joe continued speaking, I noticed the time in the right hand lower corner of the television screen.

And I thought,

“I’m going to watch that clock, and when it flips to high noon, I’ll notice the first word President Biden speaks, as the current leader of the free world.”

I can’t begin to tell you the words which preceded the “magic word,” nor the ones which came afterwards, but as the digital clock at the bottom of the screen changed from 11:59am to 12:00pm, President Biden said the word, (drum roll)

“and”

I know. It’s not a very impressive word, (at least at ‘first light’). However, as I thought about it, (and, I admit, I lost interest in the speech at this point) it occurred to me that there wasn’t any more fitting first word for the President to utter when the clock struck 12, than “and.”

Pt. 2

For you see, the word “and” is a conjunction. It allows us to join to sentences together and make them one, as in,

“I like hamburgers and I also like hotdogs.”

After all, the existence and continuation of America over the past quarter of a millennium is all about “and.” A more crucial ‘for instance’ than hamburgers and hotdogs is,

“George Washington was the first President and John Adams was the second President.”

If you do the math, we can add forty-five “and’s” after the name of our first president.

and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and

(Amazingly, during the course of my own lifetime 14 presidents have served the United States beginning with our 33^rd President Harry Truman and culminating with the 46^th President of the United States, Joe Biden; almost 1/3 of the total presidents who ever presided over this wonderful country).

And during the midst of war and peace (and) a host of national calamities (and) the presence of conservative (and) liberal administrations, this great republic has endured. (And), I think, sometimes in spite of ourselves, God has blessed the grand experiment which is our nation.

When I reflect on the first syllable our current President spoke on Day 1 of his administration, I don’t think he could have chosen a better word than “and.”

God continue to give us a myriad of “and’s” (and) bless, help and keep the United States of America, henceforth and forevermore.

by William McDonald, PhD. Copyright pending