Of all the the images which came out of the inauguration of Joe Biden as president of the United States, none had as much impact as Senator Bernie Sanders sitting by his lonesome, masked and mittened.

Most of the major players chose their attire deliberately, making sure they had their messaging right. Kamala Harris took her oath in purple as a nod to the colors of the Democrats and Republicans, in the hopes of conveying unity. Amanda Gorman was as sunshiny bright as her poem. Jennifer Lopez referenced the women’s suffrage movement in her all-white Chanel. Lady Gaga had on a golden dove brooch, her singular way of saying make peace, not war.

And so there were all these ensembles, the impact of each element probably studied and debated upon weeks in advance as anybody who knows anything about styling is well aware of, and there was Senator Sanders in a parka from Vermont and a pair of handmade mittens who was just trying to keep warm. It was refreshing, and very relatable. Most of those watching the occasion were probably dressed in tattered shirts or well-worn pajamas.

Brendan Smialowski, the veteran photographer who gave the world this once-in-a-lifetime shot, thought he had missed the moment. Here’s how he talked of the shot in an Esquire interview: “I’d seen him walk in and was watching how he mingled with people, but he kept to himself. Bernie is politically independent, and he’s probably personally independent as well. So I think he’s fine sitting in a chair by himself… When I took the photo, I practiced a technique I learned from photographing sports: you look through the camera with one eye, but then you keep your other eye open to kind of look around (for other possibilities). So when you have a long lens, you can use your other eye to see everything at once. My lens was originally on somebody else, but out of my other eye I saw him fiddling with his hands and I just very quickly went back to him. I originally thought I had missed it.”

Smialowski concedes it wasn’t a beautiful photo, but it was “a nice moment.”

A nice moment indeed, and might I add a highly meme-able one, if there is such a word. Senator Sanders was not only alone, his background was quite sparse making a dropout relatively easy. Plus, there is the unmistakable energy of the photo: a don’t mess with me vibe common among seniors. I’ve actually seen my dad in just such a pose on numerous occasions.

It wasn’t long before Senator Sanders dropped in on iconic pop culture moments, from classic artworks to blockbuster movies and popular television shows.

There are many schools of thought as to why #berniesmittens so resonated around the globe. Miriam Berger of The Washington Post says: “Perhaps Sanders’s seemingly grumpy appearance reflected peoples’ own annoyance with politicians and political systems at a time when the world is reeling from a pandemic that has exacerbated economic and social divides. Or maybe the democratic socialist, whose liberal foreign policies have made him popular abroad, at least in some corners, was the most relatable part of a day meant to display America’s democratic process. Or it could be that people just really needed something to laugh about together.”

Or maybe there was just a whole bunch of people locked down in their homes with nothing else to do! Mwahahahahaha!

It’s also because of the utter Bernie-ness of the photograph. I’m not so very familiar with American politics, but Senator Sanders strikes me as a firebrand. Whenever I catch his interviews at late night shows, he is always passionate in his ideas and lucid in his thoughts. The fact that he is all of 79 years is also quite a wonder. I would count myself so lucky to be that quick witted at 79, if I am to reach 79 to begin with! Mwahahahaha!

That he is independent is obvious. He doesn’t care that he’s alone. He doesn’t care whether what he was wearing was sending or not sending any sort of message. He was wearing what he usually wore; that parka and those mittens have been seen before.

I’d also like to believe that Bernie is the mood we’re in.

Bernie is the mood I’m in. With so much going on in the world, I can’t be bothered with what I’m wearing or what you’re thinking. I am out here, minding my own business, trying my best to survive in an increasingly weird world. I’m fine socially distancing. I hope you are too.