We find ourselves eager to be done with the year 2020 and hope that the coming year is everything that it wasn’t.  However, we must avoid the trap of calling 2020 a wasted year! Alternatively, we could spend these early hours of 2021  identifying the meaningful things that we have learned. For it indeed it would  have  been wasted if we are so blind as to have learned nothing.  In many ways, 2020 has given us a taste of what previous generations experienced as normal life.  

Every breath that we breathe is a blessing and yet, for some every breath brings pain sometimes physical, sometimes emotional and sometimes both.  COVID has caused great loss, illness and uncertainty in our very midst. Everyone of us has been touched in some way. This year has made us more aware of what we don't have but we need to strive to be aware of what we do have.  For example, we have learned to use new tools and the need has stimulated development at an astonishing rate of speed as people work together worldwide in a way never witnessed before.  This applies to the digital tools and the tools of science that have improved our ability to treat, recognize and stop the virus through effective vaccines.  

Is it possible that the reason we have cursed our imposed seclusion is that we are afraid to look at ourselves, our behavior and our priorities?  Is our rush to travel and be in crowds a disguise and an attempt to hide from our true selves. Perhaps we have learned that we need to clean out our own house before instructing others what they should do. And, pause to think about the new term we have coined, "Essential Workers".  Is this not an opportunity to review those critical activities that keep us going.  What if we carried our appreciation for "essential workers" forward and conveyed admiration and appreicartion to those we have learned are in that category.  

So, may we emerge from our cocoons in the near future and be more beautiful creatures.  May  we have gained wings to reach out to others in a kinder way and live lives that will make a difference in our neighborhood, our country and our world.  May 2020 be the turning point for us individually and for mankind.