As we wind down 2020, I get to chalk off another 52 columns after celebrating 21 years of My Corner, Your Corner earlier this month.
It’s been quite a ride and I’ve seen a lot of highs and a lot of lows and outside of personal tragedy, this year has to be the worst ever.
Over the last eight months, we’ve certainly learned a lot about our government, our neighbors, our schools, local merchants, the sciences and ourselves.
Life got so complicated when it became simplistic, meaning, the more we couldn’t do from our daily lives, the harder it was to deal with.
We had things taken away from and still do today and that has caused a lot of stress in every day life.
We’ve had to deal with not going to work, not going to school, not going to the gym or the movies or concerts, sporting events or our favorite restaurant.
We felt violated and not because of the virus, but by fellow human beings, specifically those that run government.
Citizens drew a political line in the sand as if it were a Democratic problem versus a Republican problem. That should have never have happened.
What the world has faced, and yes, the world, not just the good old U. S. of A., has been in a terrible medical crisis that was put in the hands of politicians when at times we completely forgot to take the advice of the medical community. That was crazy.
Political leaders took us down a path of disbelief instead of comforting us, putting us at ease, making us feel confident in leading us down the right path and above all, letting us know that science was on our side to get us out of this jam.
At times, as an observer of life and politics, I feel we went a bit backwards in the last eight months.
The year 2020, will go down in the history books as a chapter on what not to do when a future disaster occurs.
I hope we’ve learned a lot by this year.
I hope we’ve learned that life can get real ugly, really fast and there is great evil just outside our fingertips.
I hope we’ve learned that we need to be more patient and less political when it comes time for disasters such as COVID-19.
I hope that we’ve learned that we have some of the greatest minds that worked long and hard to find a vaccine to get us back to some kind of normalcy.
I hope we’ve learned to never take anything or anyone for granted. We need to appreciate what we have instead of what we don’t have. There needs to be more compassion for our fellow man especially when down and out.
I hope we’ve learned that we could be compliant when we have to be and follow rules and stick to a game plan.
I hope we’ve learned that we really don’t need a lot of luxuries and amenities to get by in life.
Above all, I hope we’ve learned that we are all in this together and it’s not a red or blue state thing, but it’s an everybody thing.
Will we have learned enough lessons to come out of this pandemic changed people?
I will say yes … to an extent. I think we will be different in the beginning; but eventually everyone will get back to their old ways, possibly putting our guard down, and forgetting how miserable life was during COVID. Humans have short memories and tend to forget a lot.
In the past, I’ve always enjoyed recapping the previous 12 months for my last column of the year where I’ve noted ceremonies, occasions, festivals, etc. I’ve often mentioned some of those we lost during the year, but honestly, we didn’t’ have too many highlights to speak of.
We certainly have lost a number of souls to the coronavirus that I wish didn’t happen.
The only public parade that took place in 2020 was Pittston’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade and that barely happened. The county was shutdown days after the parade and that was that for joyous gatherings for the rest of the year.
We all love to turn the calendar on Jan. 1 to start a new, fresh, and hopefully exciting New Year.
We set goals of losing weight, getting a new job or car or even a new house.
The only thing I can look forward to is none of the above. I just want to be able to get out again, mingle with friends, hug, shake hands and do all that what makes humans so unique.
Festivals and parades will be planned as usual with the caveat that they may not happen in 2021, but plan as we do, just in case.
I will look forward to attending a parade or going to a festival or two or even a few church and firemen’s bazaars.
I’ll even stand outside taking my chances on getting eaten alive by mosquitos for a 4th of July fireworks display.
And hell yes, maybe instead of taking photos of the Tomato Fights at the Tomato Festival, maybe I’ll get in there and toss a few. Nah, I’ll just photo the event; what was I thinking?
Let us all hope and pray 2021 is good to us. Let’s wish we can free to do what we love to do again.
Happy New Year, one and all!
Quote of the week
“No matter how hard the past, you can always begin again.” – Buddha
Thought of the week
“Don’t live the same life 75 times and call it a life.” – Robin Sharma
Bumper sticker
“You are never too old to reinvent yourself.” – Steve Harvey
