Continuing with one-word newsletter titles, this month’s “(The) End” refers to the end of the year 2020.

Ah, yes, so many folks can’t have it end too quickly and the year 2021 begin. Of course, that’s simply a mental construct, because January 1, 2021 is just 24 hours later than today, December 31, 2020! But, I know it can be helpful for one’s psyche.

Some say 2020 is the worst year ever, and it can sure feel that way. Not since the spread of fascism in the 1930s "have we been faced with so many abnormal events that have been so egregiously distorted by aberrant leadership" (Stephanie Zacharek at Time). We watched/experienced wildfire devastation in California; George Floyd's life gruesomely snuffed out by the police; a presidential election contested on the basis of fantasy; and, worst of all, a virus that's killed 1.8 million and counting, destroyed millions of livelihoods, and upended the lives of virtually everyone on the planet.

Ah, b-r-e-a-t-h-e.

Reading about other tumultuous events in bygone years gave me some perspective.

2020 was bad, but when it comes to the worst year ever, it's not even a contender according to Robert Allison at the Charleston, South Carolina, Post and Courier. Take 1919, after World War I killed 20 million and devastated Europe, when the death toll of the Spanish flu epidemic reached 50 million. Or 1968, when MLK Jr. and Bobby Kennedy were gunned down, America's cities burned, a losing war in Vietnam divided the nation, and the Hong Kong flu killed a million. Then there's 1942, said Richard Chin at the Minneapolis Star Tribune, "the year of the Bataan death march, the deadliest months of the Holocaust, and the beginning of the battle of Stalingrad." Or any year of the Civil War. Or consider 536, when a volcanic eruption in Iceland sent a dark cloud over Europe and Asia that caused "plunging temperatures, crop failures," and millions of starvation deaths.

Yes, 2020 was rough, said Daniel Riley at GQ, but "for so many aspects of life that needed changing, the pandemic was an accelerant." It opened the door to new ways of working, and with car and plane traffic way down, it "offered a trial run" on reducing carbon emissions. We had a "long-overdue reckoning" with our policing, and "reimagined our cities," with streets closed to traffic and outdoor dining flourishing. We learned to value what matters. In the future we may look back on 2020 not as a relentless slog of misfortune, but as "the year the future was born."

I trust the consciousness that was awakened in individuals by the pandemic and other events this year will expand in the new year, and not be forgotten. As I often say, there is a blessing in everything—even in this extraordinary year of 2020—if we can look through different lenses.

As this tumultuous year ends, I invite you to listen to this rousing rendition by Pentatonix of a New Year’s Eve favorite. Hearing this song is often unsettling for me, but I find this recording of it uplifting. What do you think?

"An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves."

- Bill Vaughn

Chris Kennedy and his 4-year-old daughter, Emily, adorned their front lawn in North Little Rock, AR with Christmas decorations in early November, as they do every year.

The spirited Christmas display, which the Kennedys have showcased for the last few holiday seasons, had only been met with cheer in their neighborhood of Lakewood, Kennedy said.

That changed November 23, when Kennedy, 33, checked his mailbox and was stunned to find an anonymous, racist letter attacking the seven-foot Black Santa on his lawn.

Joyce S. Kaye, MSW

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