Look forward with hope
To paraphrase Thomas Paine, who wrote in 1776, “These are the times that try our souls.” Here we are in another new year. And we are still in the time of COVID. And we are getting a tad grumpy about it all. As we watched those fires racing through Colorado this past week, it reminded us all the climate crisis is upon us. I have seen one of those prairie fires and they are terrifying.
This past year, with its heat dome, forest fires and floods, is just an example of things to come. Others more knowledgeable than I am will be talking about this. I will be listening to those people and doing what I can to reduce my carbon footprint. I am getting a bit concerned about the political situation to the south of us. There is a book coming out in the new year written by Barbara F. Walter, a political science professor at the University of California at San Diego that says, the U.S. is “closer to civil war than any of us would like to believe.”
If you add that possibility in with the new variant (and not necessarily the last variant) of COVID, this upcoming year doesn’t sound very friendly at all. There seems to be this sort of grey blob of time behind us. Things happened; we saw other folks – rarely – but we did see some of them “in the real.” But for me, there were no outstanding moments. That’s pretty bad when you consider that we are now almost 22 months into this fog of the mind and body.
My resolutions for this year are the following:
Continue to listen to/watch the Annapolis County council committee of the whole meetings, the regular council meetings and the special council meetings. By the way, we haven’t heard who is buying the Rogers/Seaside fibre, nor have we heard who is going to demolish Upper Clements Park.
If we have to get a fourth vaccination against whatever the next variant is, I will be first in line.
Try to be a good neighbour. Keep in touch with my farflung relatives – closely. They are all precious.
Keep in touch with my close friends – both near and far. They are also precious.
Be kind to those I care very much about.
The usual – you know the ones: lose weight, eat more vegetables, don’t swear so much, get exercise, etc.
One of the little things that has happened during the pandemic is all those items on the perpetual To-Do List seem to actually be getting done. Those are the annoying little bits around the house that seem to drop to the bottom of that list and have been there for years.
On another note, since we are starting a new chapter, please remember to thank a nurse, thank a nurse practitioner, thank a doctor, thank an orderly and anyone else who looks after us. Be well, my friends. Being a new year means we should look forward with hope and a spring in our step, even if we are wearing rose-coloured glasses. You know – that glass-half-full attitude. If the past almost two years is anything to go by, spring will be here before we know it.
Anne Crossman is a former journalist and media manager. She now does volunteer work in her community of Centrelea, Annapolis County.