Remembering 2020

As we close out 2020, it’s a good idea to reflect on the events which have taken place. I’ve got to admit that this has been a challenging year. With COVID-19, many people dying as a result of it, businesses shutting down, quarantines after exposure, social distancing mandates and most importantly, our country opening back up after a three-month long shutdown has caused a year of a turbulence. As I reflect back on these awful events, I must admit life as we know it has been strange and out of sync.

With the Christmas holiday now upon us, many of us are trying to get the most out of it because in reality, we are facing a serious crisis. So, I reflect back to the days before COVID-19. What was I doing and what were my plans and goals for 2020? I must admit I had made quite a few plans all of which were not accomplished. My family and I had planned a summer vacation along with some very short trips in and around our city. We were very disappointed that we didn’t get to go on our planned trips because of the pandemic. Most of our money had gone to paying bills just to stay afloat. This past summer was very boring and we had to adjust to the change our country is now facing.

Reminiscing back to the beginning of this year, I think about when we first heard that there was a virus called COVID-19. Many were shocked and afraid. As we entered the spring season, our country faced a shutdown and many businesses lost revenue. As we stayed in our homes in a mandated quarantine and only going outside for “essential stuff”, catching up on the latest novels, cleaning that old stuff out of closets, gaining a new-found hobby, and most importantly, communicating with family via social media like zoom or whatever means we could, we reminisced on the days we could move freely in the world.

So, here we are all opened up for business and allowed to come out of quarantine. However, our world as we know it, had changed. We are required to wear a face mask before entering a business, admonished to wash our hands frequently, and social distance ourselves about six feet apart. While people adjust to this ‘new way’ of living, chaos ensued. Panic and fear of catching the virus stayed in the back of our minds. All while we watch that dreadful morning news giving us the latest death tolls. Many lost family members and hospitals were filled to capacity with sick people who had contracted the virus. Our world had turned inside out and reports flooding our media outlets showed a huge influx of people who had died and there was no place for the dead. Hospital morgues were filled to capacity and many were laid to rest in an unmarked grave in an open vacant field and no ‘room in the end’. Many people died in the hospital while their family watched via a video.

Covid-19 turned 202o upside down. As we approached the summer season, fear of the virus spreading rapidly gripped many and we kept our family members close. Realization that our world had changed soon became a reality. As the year went on, our politicians fought to keep our economy afloat by giving every citizen, bond or free, a stimulus check. We were elated to receive this money because many people lost their jobs, businesses lost revenue and receiving this money would hopefully help most to recover. In the meantime, unemployment rates soared because a lot of people were not called back to their jobs due to a deficit with their employer. As a result of all of this, homes were lost, many people became homeless and the food pantries were flooded.

Moving forward to the fall season, here we are right in the middle of the most celebrated holiday of the year; Christmas. People are scrambling to buy family members gifts while trying to continue to stay safe. Retail lines are long and ordering gifts online via the most well-known retailer, Amazon, gets an overload of cyber shopping. People want to feel the love and happiness of the season because after all, it’s needed with all that’s going on. We are admonished to not gather in large crowds for Thanksgiving and Christmas nor to travel, but people ignored it because everything just opened up and people want to feel the holiday spirit. We are now three days to Christmas and our leaders have decided to give every American another stimulus check, but less, much less, than the previous one. Something is better than nothing.

As we continue to prepare for that big day, December 25th, our world hears about another strain of the covid19 in the U.K. while many people are preparing to get inoculated with the first covid19 vaccine. Amongst all of this, we are preparing to adept to a new President being inaugurated in 2021. As we near the end of 2020 and coming into 2021, there are a lot of adjustments to be made. We must ask ourselves what will 2021 be like? I’m hoping and being positive that next year will be better for all of us because at the end of all this, life is what you make it. Entering a new year will bring some challenges because our world is different now and maybe a season of joy will over shadow a year of sorrow.