Good Riddance 2021

Last year at this time people said they were glad to see 2020 come to an end. Oh, yes it was a horrible year.

We had racial hate fueled by lies and distortions in the media, leading to lawlessness, rioting in the streets, and a presidential election which half the electorate believed to be fixed. Add to that the worldwide fear of the Wuhan virus and government lockdowns that nearly brought all of human existence to a halt.

Making a bad situation even worse, authoritarian political leaders seemed to take delight in flexing their muscles to push their constituents into compliance with whatever Covid mandates they decided to implement at any given time, all in the name of health. No one really knew what the hell to do, except to put a halt to all normal human relations and activities. No gatherings at all, even for religious services, funerals and death bed good-byes.

It's no wonder that so many were hopeful that 2021 would bring back some semblance of what we once knew as normal living. Sadly, it didn't. While lockdowns thankfully have been discarded due to the fact that they have been proven not to have been effective, distancing, masking, and multiple vaccinations are still very much with us. Many people are as spooked by the virus as they ever were, and with each new variant the fear index spikes up thanks primarily to media hype.

There appears to be no light at the end of the tunnel for this pandemic. We are being told that even though we distance, even though we wear masks, even though we get vaccinated two or three times, we can still get the virus and be sick.

We are vaccinating our children, in some states (like California) as young as two years old. Scientific experts are still in disagreement with each other over the proper way to deal with the virus. Experts on one news outlet contradict experts on another news outlet. State leaders make up their own rules, and depending on which state you live in will determine what the mandates and rules are that you must abide by.

As another depressing year draws to a close, the memory cells start to kick in. Memories of good years before politics and pandemics took over our lives; bringing us down, pitting us against each other, destroying families and ruining childhood for too many of our children. Remembering long past "Happy New Years" seems like a distant fantasy, an innocent dream where we fondly bid our farewells to the good old year and looked forward to a promising new beginning.

As it is now, the very phrase "Happy New Year" seems quaint, a relic of a romanticized time gone by. Partying, blowing horns, laughing and dancing in crowded rooms with strangers, counting down the seconds to midnight, balloons and streamers released from the ceiling, all of that just doesn't ring true anymore. That was a time of frivolity and carefree abandonment. All that doesn't really seem appropriate now. Frivolity and carefree abandonment are a luxury we no longer possess.

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This is the second year in a row where we are not bidding the old year a fond farewell, but taking an enormous sigh as we say "good riddance to this horrible year" and pray that the next 12 months will, please, please be better somehow.

As individuals, of course, we can try to do what we can to keep our spirits up and live a happy life. It is imperative for our own mental health that we keep our perspective in check and limit our exposure to media doomsayers and, to the degree we are able, not allow the political hacks to control our lives. In that spirt, then, I wish all my readers a very healthy and happy new year.

I can't help but wonder, though, just how many more years will I be writing a "Good Riddance" column to the old year?

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