How will Annapolis and Anne Arundel County talk about 2020 in the new year?

Today is the final day of a year few are likely to reflect on with much fondness.

The year 2020 will be remembered as the time when the coronavirus swept through the nation, killing hundreds of thousands and sickening many, many more. It will be recalled as a year when the response to this catastrophe can most charitably be called a disaster.

It will be remembered as a year when our national politics reached new heights of rancor and divisiveness. It will be recalled as a time when police violence against Black people and the protests it sparked set the table for a national dialogue on race and justice.

The last 12 months will be recalled as a time when hundreds of thousands lost their livelihoods, either in the form of missing paychecks or a closed small business. It will be seen as a year when climate change silences many doubters with a record number of hurricanes, flooding events and forest fires.

Thequestion is whetherwe will talk in a constructive way about what just happened. Or will we repeat the error of 100 years ago?

There isn’t much to remember about the great influenza pandemic of 1918, a far more fatal sweep of the planet that killed anywhere from 20 million to 50 million worldwide, depending on the source of the estimate. Until 2020, that double loop of H1N1 around the world was a historical oddity occasionally retold in littlewatched documentaries or by what- if news media essayists.

We, as a nation, have to commit to having a conversation about how this year went so terribly wrong. How can we strengthen our institutions so that they are better able to address a national crisis of this magnitude? Howcanwe findcommon ground to move past the red state/ blue state divide that has so paralyzed us when we needed action so desperately?

We, as a community, must look at what happened in Annapolis and Anne Arundel County and ask if there is a common set of facts that can foster discussion?

Was the safety net in Maryland, which relies so heavily on private nonprofits and volunteers, strong enough? Were the resources in the right place to help people with no food, no money for rent and no prospects? Were the lifelines for private businesses enough to prevent lasting damage to the economy?

Yes, there will be the inevitable question of whether our leaders acted in a way that justified the trust voters placed in their hands. Certainly, no one in public office nowexpected to be dealing with a crisis of this magnitude and will have to explain their actions to voters in the future.

But the answer to that question will differ across political lines — make no mistake, there will be politics made out of every day of 2020.

There is a long way to go before this miasma of a year clears. Hopefully, the inauguration of a new president will change the national discussion so there can be disagreement without contempt.

Hopefully, the coronavirus recession will be brief, and the economy will rebound once vaccinations become widespread. Hopefully, we might see Fourth of July barbecues, if not parades.

Some things are unlikely to go back to what they were before the pandemic arrived. But asking what we could have done better and what must change presents an opportunity we as a community and as a nation, we must reach for as the year 2021 rolls onward from Jan. 1.

HappyNew Year.