MSNBC hosts and guests break down in tears as an American leader finally acknowledges the country's grief

Eddie Glaude, Chris Jansing, Nicolle Wallace and Dr. Kavita Patel joined in an emotional moment after President-elect Joe Biden became the first president to acknowledge the emotional struggle that Americans have faced over the last year.

Wallace revealed that at the beginning of the tragedy, she didn't want her son to see her cry, so she would go running and sob to herself.

Glaude, who just lost a dear friend on Monday, wept as he discussed the need for the nation to share in our grief.

Dr. Patel agreed, saying that for her, the shell can crack open and it can be cathartic.

"I can tell you that not just the tears that we have all been kind of holding in or doing on our runs or I do it at night so my kids don't see me, but it was so important to have this moment, those lights to see that those lives are acknowledged, that they all mattered, and yet, Nicole, the kind of knowledge that the work still continues," she said. "We have so much more to do to heal the nation. I think you heard Vice President-elect Harris say that."

She continued: "And I'm so -- it's hard, Nicole, it's so hard to be so hopeful. We have miraculous vaccines. We have a national plan that's going to come together and just think about the tragedy, you know, loved ones, family members who have died, colleagues who are truly breaking their backs, not just in hospitals and clinics but in neighborhoods to make sure businesses stay open, to make sure that you and I can get to and from, if we need to. And so this was so important, and it's such a fitting, fitting way to acknowledge on this memorial, on this historic day, 400,000 deaths that we've crossed and yet we have exactly what you see. We have lights honoring the angels and I couldn't -- I couldn't think of anything better and anything more necessary than this moment."

Co-host Brian Williams made the case that these lights should remain as part of the memorials that exist in the nation's capitol.

See the video below:

mourning together as a nationwww.youtube.com