I’m carefully picking out dry spots or clumps of snow to step on as I walk my dog. The only rule is to avoid the ice. I take off my winterwear, filled with feathers and fake fur, remove the red and gray coat from my dog. The world keeps roaring along. The snow keeps falling.

But politics has shifted. The world this week is the world of Amanda Gorman, the young African-American Harvard graduate, whose inaugural poem “The Hill We Climb” spiraled into viral heights immediately after the new administration began. We should celebrate Amanda’s poem, a poem for Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and all of us. We should celebrate the United States of America, which for all its flaws has occasional glorious moments. A few couplets from the poem that resonated with me: .

When day comes we ask ourselves,

Where can we find light in this never-ending shade?

….

And so we lift our gazes, not to what stands between us,

but what stands before us.

…

Because being American is more than a pride we inherit.

It’s the past we step into and how we repair it.

Amanda gorman

We have moved into a new U.S. incarnation — and many people are sleeping more peacefully. Lots of concerned citizens came furiously together to make this time happen. Now we have to build and rebuild. We must take the immigrant children out of cages forever. We are long overdue at attempting to provide a living wage and affordable health care for all. We also have to reconnect with our relatives and neighbors. Or at least calm the waters.

But it’s not healthy to just hurtle from crisis to crisis. It’s not healthy to keep going, going, going with our guts churning and our hearts hurting. Our students and children need us to help them frame their worlds right now.

Let’s celebrate free elections. Let’s celebrate an America where little girls may begin growing up believing that they can be President — not because it’s allowed for girls, but because gender, color, and sexual preferences may soon become irrelevant considerations in picking candidates for high office. Let’s celebrate a peaceful transition. Yes, soldiers were sleeping on marble floors in the capitol building, but the swearing-in of our new leaders happened without serious hitches.

Our kids need to hear: It’s a great, new day!

P.S. If you voted for the other candidate and you don’t think it’s a great, new day — can you celebrate democracy? Celebrate the fact that every two-four-six years we get a chance to make our voices heard? Kids need to hear that their voices matter and their thoughts count. That’s what elections are about.