2020: Act II

The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.

Haldir
The Fellowship of the Ring
J.R.R. Tolkien

We’ve found that the intermission of 2020 is a bit longer than we thought and the stage manager is holding the curtain because of the extended lines to the restrooms.

Not to mention the crowd at the bars.

Who would have thought in early January that by mid-summer we’d be locked away in our homes with many still afraid to venture out?

Who would have thought that our cities would be burning, that unemployment would be through the roof, that businesses would be closing with no plans of returning?

I had none of these things on my 2020 Bingo card.

And yet, here we are.

I do not think that all is gloom and despair. It never is.

After all, I’ve read the final chapter of Revelation.

I’m no end times conspiracist, but I’m pretty sure things have to get a lot worse before we get to that chapter.

People are tired. People are agitated. People are hungry. People are angry.

We’re not out of the woods yet. And there’s no magic answer that’s going to fix everything.

But we hold on to the things that we have.

For me, it was a good sign that my gym reopened on Monday. No, I’m not afraid of going. And no, the extra safety measures they had to employ are not excessive.

The only thing that really concerned me was the obvious impact of not having been there for four months.

Ouch.

Here in Virginia we go into Phase III today. A little more freedom for restaurants. A little more opportunity to gather.

Except in bars. True story.

We can all dream about how 2020 could have been such a different year. We can point fingers to those who did or didn’t misread the severity of the virus, or who did or didn’t anticipate the violence in the streets.

But thinking about how it could have been different won’t change things. Tearing down the past won’t help us build a future.

We have to think about how we move forward.

The first six months of the year are behind us. There’s not a critic out there who wouldn’t say that this was an awful first act.

I’ve no reason to believe that Act II will wrap everything up neatly like a Hallmark movie.

But hopefully, by the time the turkey comes out of the oven, we’ll be able to be thankful that 2020 is mostly behind us.

A lot can change in six months.

Look around and see what you can do to help make it a change for the better.

I’ll do the same.

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