Remember looking forward to 2021?

Remember nearing the end of 2020, that terrible year, that pandemic? Boy, were we looking forward to all that mess being over! We were saying “Yay, a new year! 2021, new beginnings!” 

Yeah, right.

The virus. It’s still here, and actually worse in a way. They say it’s easier to catch than last year’s version, and although it’s weaker it’s still potent enough to be crowding the hospitals again. It’s hard not to give in to the feeling of futility, isn’t it? I still have hope, though, that we will prevail. I believed at the outset that if we worked together we would make it go away. ¹

That may still turn out to be so in 2022, but it sure didn’t happen in 2021. If the elusive “herd immunity” is to be reached it will be by the combination of those who got the shot and those who refused but will contribute the hard way, by getting sick and recovering. The pandemic will soon turn endemic, something we live with like colds and the flu. Like with colds and the flu, we will be less likely to catch it if we wash our hands and keep them off our faces, cover our sneezes, and (close your eyes to read this if you can’t stand the thought) wear a mask in crowded places. Another thing contributes to my feeling of hopefulness, though:

I see good people.

I see them everywhere. I have a family of good people. I live in a neighborhood of good people. I work with good people. Some of the good people I know don’t believe the same things I do, about all kinds of topics including that pandemic. They’re still good people.

Good people. They’re everywhere.

The best thing about being human
Is not the great things we can do
We might think we’re pretty terrific
But living alone makes us blue.

It’s living and working together
That makes a community work
With kindness and love for each other
(Except the occasional jerk.)

It’s not just the way we pursue things
In search of success and for gold
Or wanting more money than others,
An empty pursuit so I’m told.

It’s caring and kindness that does it
Together we will make it through
With generous care and good laughter
And loving is part of it too.

Wherever we look there is goodness
As long as we’re open to see
The good that often lies hidden
In people just like you and me.