2021 promises to deliver the beginning of the end of a trek that few of us expected to be taking in 2020.

 

There’s light at the end of the tunnel.

Hang in there!

Hundreds of thousands of families lost loved ones in 2020 to COVID or COVID complications. My heart goes out to each and every one of you, if you happen to be reading this right now.

 

 

And even survivors of COVID are experiencing long-lasting aftereffects from the virus.  So literally tens of millions of Americans in the U.S. alone are still “under the weather” physically and/or mentally.

 

The good news is that sometime in March or early April the CDC and other powers-that-be say we should begin to see an uptick in good news. The infection and death rates should start coming down.

 

But that’s still 90 to 120 days away. Until then, it’s going to remain bleak and horrible, with at least as many people dying as  perished during the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center terror attack every 24 hours.

 

And YOU have the power to do something about that.

 

PLEASE DO ALL YOU CAN TO AVOID GETTING IT … OR GIVING IT TO ANYONE ELSE

 

 

If we all do our part (big IF, these days!), the balance of 2021 can begin to resemble what will feel like “the good old days.” Most of us will have been immunized, many of us will begin to see our businesses rebounding as companies begin hiring again, and we can start the climb back to a pre-COVID baseline.

 

It has been a helluva slog. 

 

But it’s a new year with a new administration that knows how to administer during national crises. So, I’m feeling a whole lot better than I have in four decades–er, years, I mean. They just felt like decades! (The 50’s come to mind, pre-Civil Rights; those were my formative years. I was utterly appalled, even as an eight year old, to see how Black people were being beaten, fire-hosed and shot without compunction. Sadly, times haven’t changed a whole lot; there are still white supremacists in high places who think they have a God-given right to subjugate, marginalize, and even terrorize people of color.)

 

With any luck at all, white supremacists and other bigots will crawl back under a rock now (sadly, it will have to be a very large rock to conceal them all) so the American Dream can become truly achievable for everyone who’s determined to make it happen for them no matter what race, color, creed, gender, or sexual orientation they are.

 

I’m a Star Trek TOS kid. I believe in IDIC (Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations). I know to the core of my being that every individual on this planet longs to be CELEBRATED as the unique, unrepeatable person they are, not just TOLERATED.

 

And we all need the same things to survive: adequate amounts of healthy, life-sustaining food, clean water and air, adequate shelter from the elements, and the goodwill and compassion of our neighbors. Everything else is a want, not a must have.  And we have the ability to ensure every person’s needs. We just have to have the sense of decency and obligation to provide it.

 

We’re all in the same boat.  It shouldn’t be the Titanic for the many and Celebrity Cruises for the 1%.

 

Let’s start taking care of each other. Right now, that’s as easy as staying home, limiting travel and saving lives by wearing our masks when we have to go out, and castigating and correcting the businesses that think they’re more special or more deserving  than the human beings who work for them, and the rest of us, are.

 

A little humility and compassion go a long way toward meeting our responsibility to our fellow sojourners on Planet Earth, animal and human.