Submitted by Ken Fitzgerald
2020 – It Was a Very Good Year
Not really.
But some very positive things occurred – some as a result of the pandemic, and some not. Among the bright spots of 2020:
- The Black Lives Matter movement was widely embraced.
- Trump was tossed out by the voters.
- Healthcare workers and teachers were recognized as essential.
- COVID vaccines were invented.
- Wildlife crossings were constructed.
- The environment enjoyed a calming reprieve.
- People got puppies.
- Ted Lasso graced our TV screens.
We all were forced to find value in the ordinary things – time at home, home-cooked meals, family, and friends (if only through virtual contact). As the gifted writer and musician Darin Kelly described it in his 2020 recap, we all received the “inadvertent gift of time,” and “the blessing of recalibration.”
Most importantly, the nation seemed to come back around to the notion that kindness matters. Faced with a humanitarian crisis, a great many refocused on human values – eschewing the ugly coarseness that had become the common currency.
Here’s hoping that 2021 brings a return to warmth, sharing, caring, and brotherly love. As we greet the new year, may the better angels of our nature prevail.
Nobody will miss 2020. But we all will benefit from its lessons.
Ken Fitzgerald
