I’ve not enjoyed the montages of 2020 on programs like Sunday Morning. Programs that have been a part of my life for over four decades and fill me with nostalgia thinking of the Charles’s Kuralt and Osgood. The familiar blow of a trumpet and a recitation of Auld Lang Syne seemed like it was written for me and a nod to my Scottish heritage. But this year it all felt… sad. So much death. So much tragedy. So much division.
It felt like we were all survivors of some tragic ship wreck with no rescue in sight. Treading water in open ocean. Protected only by our life jackets and both clinging to each other for support while also hoping not to cause one another to drown. All the while watching those who were clinging to their own lives selfishly claw and climb over others to save their own skins. After all, there’s a 99% survival rate…
But there were shining glimmers of hope. I’ve never felt more proud than walking down the streets of my home in Brooklyn with tens of thousands of people in support of Black Lives Matter. We stood in solidarity on balconies across the city every night at 7pm cheering for essential workers. We stayed home and lived a very un-NY existence and slowed the spread in a very scary time. New Yorkers came together and suffered for the greater good.
But this year sucked. We lost 300,000 lives. We lost countless small businesses with more sure to fail. We watched our fellow citizens waiting for hours in food lines while billionaires doubled their wealth. I learned that 74 million Americans don’t value things like equity and humanity and basic civil rights. That hurts. And I don’t know that we can heal that kind of divide.
I’m not as hopeful this year as I have been in years past. I often feel as if I’m watching the sun set on another empire. But every sunset leads to dawn. And new beginnings are the greatest opportunity for growth. So I’m just gonna keep plugging along. Doing the best I can and always trying for better.
This might not be the ideal year but it’s the one we get. We accept it and we trudge forward. It’s what we’ve always done and what we will always do. So let’s resolve to keep walking forward. And when we look back, remember, it’s all in the past.
