Dear friends,
Blessings and peace be upon you.
You’re going to need them.
First, let’s get some overused words and phrases out of the way:
- Unprecedented
- Systemic
- Lockdown
- Pandemic
- Peaceful protest
- New normal
- Social distancing
Good riddance! Those last two oxy-moronic abominations are particularly odious, and whoever coined them should probably be taken out and shot. There’s nothing ‘normal’ about these times, and there’s nothing ‘social’ about the masks and distancing that have been forced upon us, we’re told, for our own good.
I have to laugh at all the anti-2020 memes and vitriol directed at this year and its horrors. But seriously, why blame 2020 for the impact of a virus that was birthed in 2019? That’s like blaming your mom for catching a cold after some random guy on the subway sneezed on her. Why is this random guy (2019) so special that we have to protect him from the guilt he so clearly deserves?
But let’s not waste any more time commiserating about the past year.
Let’s look forward to 2021!
Yay! Right?
Well… don’t get me wrong, I’m as hopeful as the next person that 2021 will be a “better” year. But I don’t believe that a magical calendar change is going fix everything. Yes, we have a vaccine coming. But there is no inoculating people against the unreasonable fear and division that seems to have gripped our nation and our world. There is no vaccine for mistrust, for greed, for pettiness, or for self-centeredness.
They say tough times bring out the best in people, but for some reason our current malady seems to have had the opposite effect. In the days after 9-11, I saw people doing heroic things for their neighbors, and even strangers they’d never met. We were united against a common enemy. We pulled together.
In our current struggle, we literally can’t pull together. We’ve been forced apart. The isolation, paranoia, suspicion and disaffection are unavoidable symptoms of working from home, distance learning, sheltering in place and “no contact” delivery. We — human creatures who desperately need physical contact and real connection — are all experiencing the consequences of a “touchless” society. We’re told this is necessary to preserve life, but at what cost? Is life really worth living if you can’t shake someone’s hand, share a laugh, eat and drink together, go dancing, sing along with the fans of your favorite band at a concert, cheer with and high-five total strangers at a football game, hold hands and pray at church, or hug and cry with loved ones at a funeral? What is the point of preserving human life if we end up losing what it means to be human?
Life is not a safe or sterile environment, nor were humans designed to live in one.
As Hellen Keller said, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure.”
I do hope and pray that 2021 will mark a new beginning. Will it be the year we are allowed to become human beings again? Will the pendulum swing back?
The real question is, what are YOU going to do, regardless of whether 2021 sees a positive turn, or continues in the same downward spiral as 2020?
For me, I’m taking my cue from King David:
“Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love,
for in you I trust.
Make me know the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul.”
— Psalm 143:8
I’m not putting my trust in 2021. I’m trusting in the One who got me this far, and who knows the way I need to go next. All I need to do is return each morning and meditate on his incredible love.
God willing, dear readers, I can share some of that love with you in the coming year. Hope and joy and prosperity to you in 2021!