Health, Happiness and Good Luck in the Coming Year
What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.
T. S. Eliot
If you feel that 2020 was drawn out, you are right. It was a leap year, giving us one more day (February 29).
In addition to the celestial calendar, however, the epoch seemed interminable for the major and disquieting events that marked the past 12 months.
January found Australia battling one of the most devastating wildfires in its history that burned a hard to grasp 46 million acres.
On the 9th of the same month, the WHO (World Health Organization) announced the appearance in China of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), or Covid 19 – which was to shortly engulf the world. (So far more than 330,000 people have died in our country from the Corona Virus.)
In March, the stock market crashed (7.79%) its worst drop in the history of the Dow.
In August, thousands of lightning strikes precipitated four of the five worst fires in Northern California, costing 33 lives. Oakmont was evacuated and six families lost their home in our village.
From these events to President Trump’s impeachment, to Black Lives Matter, tension over Iran and on to Joe Biden’s election as the next president, we were kept in suspense over what to expect next.
What ultimately happened – almost as a Christmas gift to the world – was the introduction of two vaccines against the dreaded Coronavirus. Two firms, Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna produced the life-saving serum.
With these fortuitous developments, we stand ready and poised to welcome not only a new year, but the beginning of a new decade.
Technology will continue its path of rapid innovations, hopefully to the benefit of mankind. Medical research will find new cures for existing and emerging illnesses and labor will experience alternate modes of working from home.
And, finally, as one prominent forecaster suggested, somewhat in jest, the gold standard will be reintroduced – the method of fiscal soundness that has worked for 4000 years …
We wish all the residents of Oakmont health, happiness and good luck in the coming year and thereafter. May we be spared of troubles and the reoccurring catastrophic fires.
Per Dave Barry, https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2020/12/27/dave-barrys-year-review-2020/?arc404=true
“We’re trying to think of something nice to say about 2020.
Okay, here goes:
Nobody got killed by the murder hornets. As far as we know.
That’s pretty much it.
In the past, writing these annual reviews, we have said harsh things about previous years. We owe those years an apology. Compared to 2020, all previous years, even the Disco Era, were the golden age of human existence. This was a year of nonstop awfulness, a year when we kept saying it couldn’t possibly get worse, and it always did. This was a year in which our only moments of genuine, unadulterated happiness were when we were able to buy toilet paper.”
I am an optimist and look forward to 2021, but “you never know”
JM
I think 2020 may have helped us refocus on what is really important in life: U. S. constitutional protections, family, friends and health! Happy and healthy New Years everyone!
There were lots of wonderful things that happened in 2020. Just a few examples, so many birthdays for those reaching 100+ years, the birth of thousands of beautiful babies, graduation from high school and college, children learning how to ride a bike and drive a car, adoption of a new dog or cat (or an iguana), weddings of those in love and I could go on and on… Yes, we all hope and expect 2021 will bring our economy back, jobs back and the health of our planet back to “normal”. I am optimistic for 2021 as we all continue to mask up, keep social distance and stay home unless we really need to go out. Happy New Year to all.