It was just past halftime on Super Bowl Sunday, and I was in bed reading.
(Hey, I’d made it through the first half – despite having no interest in football – and the entire halftime show, despite having no knowledge of “The Weeknd,” his music, why he spells his name like that, or what was up with those creepy, bandage-faced dancers. My wifely duty was done.)
In our last issue, I opined: “If people with very different values and principles are going to live together in the same country (and even the same small towns) without killing each other… I believe we must learn to be more than just tolerant; we must learn to be forgiving. If we expect to survive as a nation, we must cultivate a spirit of forgiveness as if our very lives depended on it. Because they do.”
…whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious…think about these things. - Philippians 4:8
Good riddance, 2020. I think we can all agree on that sentiment.
But what now? Will 2021 be any better? Some will answer with a resounding yes, citing the end of the Trump era and the beginning of Covid-19 vaccinations. But I believe the answer is entirely up to us – we human creatures who make up that thing called society. “We are the times,” wrote St. Augustine. “Such as we are, such are the times.” With that in mind, I’m pretty skeptical about 2021.
“Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more . . . He became as good a friend, as good a master, as good a man as the good old City knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough in the good old world.” – Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol