The Year 2020

 This year saw the raw wound of racial divide, the social fissures at many levels in society, corruption and political upheavals that seemed like a never ending nightmare.  Then we have the pandemic and its sister, death claiming many lives.  In its wake, we saw bit by bit that the world we knew is passing away.  Our sense of safety is suddenly as tenuous as the bough about to break in its weight.

Where do we turn when the very social norms and expectations no longer apply to this new, uncharted waters?  We have to adapt less we perish in this tumultuous time.  Our resilience to survive and live as normally as we can is tested without a moment’s break.

Aided by science and what we know about the Covid 19, the observations and deductions we made as we saw many die, we held tightly to our masks, kept at a distance even to those we love, and dutifully established a new awareness of self-care not just for ourselves but for others.  We hoped for relief even as we see the twin evils of variant viral strains coming from other countries.  We believed that the vaccine will at least temper this raging infection being passed on from one person to the other.  We ardently pursue unceasingly the calls through prayers to God to help us.

I lost a good friend of mine not through Covid but the malicious infection of political differences.  She never talked to me again after we had what I thought was a lively discussion of political beliefs at the height of the US presidential elections.  It was too much for our friendship to take to express our own beliefs without censure.  It is as if we no longer see each other as friends but opponents from opposite sides of the political spectrum.  There was the sense that if I did not share the same beliefs and principles, I am only an enemy to be shunned and vilified.

Such is life when people draw boundaries meant to divide completely and totally.  There is no longer room for inclusivity, years of friendship and shared memories.  In a flash, everything changed.

The year 2020 is drawing to a close and trailing right behind it is its carnage.  The ember of hope has not expired.  If I look ahead I can still pray for a new dawn, a beginning as glorious as the birth of the promised Messiah.  That is what my lips professes and my heart yearns achingly for.  This too shall pass.