Let's hope it's a good one, without any fear

Yesterday's post reflected the somber mood many of us have been in for 2020. It was an execrable year; certainly, it was the hardest year of any I remember in my time on this rock.

But, now it's 2021. With a new year comes a new hope. Every day above ground is another day when you can right wrongs and make a decent place of this world.

Let's not mince words: We've had a close thing of it these past four years, 2020 being the worst of the lot. Were it not for COVID and the concomitant recession, it would have been even money on Donald Trump securing a second term. There are too many short-sighted people in this country to make for comfortable living.

But, as Winston Churchill was claimed to have said: “Americans can always be trusted to do the right thing, once all other possibilities have been exhausted.”  It did take a plague and an economic cratering for enough voters to come around to the idea that the state of your 401K shouldn't dictate your morality. Enough of them, who were well-off, recognized that their comfort depended on everyone doing well.

The last year wasn't all negative. I'm going to speak about myself for a minute.

I love being a librarian. For me, and most of my colleagues, it's not merely a job, but a calling. (For those for whom it isn't, it's best to avoid them.)

As a County employee, we are by default disaster service workers. Of course, the disaster every one of us envisioned being called up for was some form of large earthquake. None of us expected to be in the middle of a plague.

However, a plague it was, and we were called upon to help in the effort. This ranged from helping the Registrar-Recorder finish counting ballots from the March primary, to helping staff the Project Roomkey hotels, to what I'm doing, contact tracing.

There are still a few of us left at our library buildings. And I'm glad I'm not one of them. For one, I don't much care for being out and about during a time of contagion. But mostly, I now know what some soldiers who return from war mean when they say that they never felt so alive as when they were under fire. The collective effort to reach an objective gave their lives a meaning which quotidian experience didn't provide. My missus and I don't have children, and won't have grandchildren. But I will be able to look into the eyes of my grandnephews and grandnieces and tell them that their Tito helped beat back a deadly plague. I'm blessed in not only still being able to work, but being able to do so in something so important. Yes, I get stressed. And you've seen me at my breaking point a few times. But then I pull myself together. I have a job to do, and that job is helping people. It was my job before COVID, and it's even more so now.

And, of course, Trevor and I will keep this joint going as we enter a new phase of the war against stupidity and evil. This coming year won't be easy. We'll be in a fight to get anything done. But there are no neutrals. You have to make a decision on which side you're on. I know which one we're on.

Here's to 2021. Any predictions I make would be foolish. So I merely wish you prosperity, joy, and laughter. We'll need them in the struggle ahead.

I leave you with a song for the past year, and this year.