Two thousand twenty

A year like no other, and that’s the truth

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

That’s near the beginning of Ecclesiastes, or The Preacher. This year the world had need of preachers. And, quite obviously, The Preacher.

The papers said this has been the deadliest year in American history. That number does tend to rise each year, because there are more Americans every year, but heap on top of the numbers that would go to their natural beyond, this awful covid-19, and the figures spike.

Is there really nothing new under the sun? If we were to disagree and point to this pandemic, millions of shades from 1918 might interrupt, if they could. The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be.

The Great Unnameable works in mysterious ways, the Book says, so that means that He probably doesn’t recognize that mankind will turn over a calendar year tonight at a certain strike of our clocks. Although He’d certainly recognize that we recognize it. There’ll be fireworks here and there, some singing and toasting, and even us old fogies will stay up past bedtime to watch the rest of the world celebrate, as best it can.

As best it can. For that’s all man can really do, right? As best we can. There will be no crowds watching the ball drop in New York City’s Times Square. No throngs of people showing up in Washington, D.C.’s mall area to see the spectacle. This will be a subdued celebration. If New Orleans can cancel Mardi Gras parades, anything is possible. We will celebrate as best we can.

And as hard an argument as it is to make just now, especially to some families, there is reason to celebrate, if not exactly party. Let us count the ways:

First, we’ve decoded the enemy’s secret language. Two vaccines are already being given to people, and this month might have been the equivalent of the Battle of Midway — the first United States victory in the Pacific during World War II. In June of ‘42, the American Navy sunk four Japanese aircraft carriers in that battle. But that was only the summer of 1942. More than three years would remain in the war.

The fight against covid-19 is kind of a war, close enough that the United States military is involved in logistics. And although we can decipher this enemy’s plans, he still fights, and kills. To quote a noted figure of WWII, right now might not be the end, nor even the beginning of the end, but it might be, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

Those in the know say widespread inoculation could be in full swing by spring. As another Brit, a 91-yearold grandfather, told CNN when he got one of the first doses this month: “Well, there’s no point in dying now.”

This year, drive-in movie theaters made a comeback, and some of us hope they stay around. Americans adopted more pets than ever before. Dolly Parton’s donation to Vanderbilt helped fund Moderna’s vaccine. Is there anything she can’t do?

The World Health Organization declared Africa to be free of polio in the wild. The people at the Global Terrorism Index say deaths from worldwide terrorism fell for the fifth consecutive year. The worldwide economy pivoted to remote work. And for those of us who need help blocking spam callers from our phone, being able to create a Zoom meeting is something of a modern miracle.

Much before the pandemic, the United States was trending in the right direction when it comes to emissions of greenhouse gases. We expect when the numbers start rolling in for 2020, amid the economic shutdown(s), those numbers will look even better. Oh, by the way, renewable energy, while not quite able to replace fossil fuels yet, is being used now more than ever across the planet. Of course it would be the squirrelly year of 2020 in which Arab nations started to normalize relations with Israel. So far this year, Morocco, Bahrain, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates have done so. Those who follow these things behind the scenes expect Saudi Arabia to follow soon.

SpaceX was able to land a rocket back on Earth in 2020. The Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl.

This year many of us saw the closest thing to the Christmas Star that folks will see in our lifetimes. It gave chills to sit in an Arkansas parking lot and watch Jupiter and Saturn dance together in the southwest sky. The kids will tell this story to their grandkids.

There were other good — great! — things that happened over the last 12 months, including millions of baby boys and girls who were born. Weddings were held, even if many were virtual. If there are newspapers still around in 2070, many will mention 50th anniversaries and include this year. If you think 2020 will pass away tonight, and auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind, think again. The year 2020 will be brought to mind on millions of birthdays and anniversaries in the coming decades.

Now, for the final words of this editorial, we take the final words of that book, Ecclesiastes, which is one book in The Book. And its author, a son of David, signs off better than we ever could. The Preacher/Writer would have made a great editorialist:

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

Happy new year, y’all.