Starting the comeback year

It was a year many of us will remember for all the wrong reasons.

Never has there been so much change in so little time. The coronavirus took us all by surprise, never realizing how it would affect our lives. How could we have expected everyone to wear face masks and asking those close to us to stay away (well, at least six feet). Or the stock market to reach new records every day of the week the last week of a year in which we hit over-the-top levels of unemployment and spent trillions of dollars we didn’t have to keep the economy from sinking? And in the middle, protests and counterprotests throughout the country about the treatment of minorities at the hands of institutions, and even the movement to “defund police.”

And then there was a presidential election like there never was before, with this environment as a backdrop. No traditional conventions, a campaign (mostly) waged in social media and televised debates, followed by a fractious vote that extended over a month and almost took longer to count.

Even these papers had to make moves we never expected, combining the strength of two communities into one.

But we came through it all, despite it all. We end the year with hope. We’re starting to get vaccines that may allow us to get back to what we remember as normal life. Back to being together, sharing meals and special times with those that we care about. Being able to see our loved ones to share good times and bad. Being able to be there when we are needed most.

We’ve already seen essential workers step up to protect us, to help us, to serve us. There’s no doubt they will continue to be here for us. The inner strength that binds us together as individuals as well as a society when things are at their worst is ready to break out to bring us back.

What will you do to contribute to the big comeback? What sacrifice will you make to help your neighbors return to living? For some, it may doubling down on wearing masks and keeping their distance; for others, gifting their talents and resources to help those who have lost their livelihoods and are facing hunger and loss of home. Helping may be as simple as picking up a phone, or punching on a keyboard, to lift up the lonely of this solitary time.

But most assuredly, there is something each one of us can do to aid in this recovery. Bring hope through what you do in the coming year. We are committed to doing the same.