New Year's Day: January 1st, 2021

Today is January 1st, 2021. 

The first day of a new year. 

Much will be written of the year 2020.

The pandemic that upended all our lives. 

The pandemic that took so many lives. 

An economic crash that wrecked so many lives. 

A harsh realization racial justice is still lacking in this country. 

While 2020 is over, none of these issues are by any means over. 

We're heading into this new year with the pandemic still raging. Too many people sick, too many dying. 

The economy is still not working for a lot of people, people making desperate choices over food, medicine and shelter. 

African Americans are still facing a death toll of men and women at the hands of the police, their quest for justice is still not fulfilled. 

But for all the crises that still weigh on our shoulders and bend our backs, we have cause perhaps to be hopeful. 

There are vaccines for COVID-19. There is new political leadership that will place competency and science over the desires of political spin. 

The bad news is we're still at war with the coronavirus. 

The good news is we have for the first time a real chance at winning that war.  

The economy is on shaky ground but economic cycles rise and fall and ultimately rise again. We can get back to the upside if the needs to Main Street are put above those of Wall Street, if we remember the needs of the American citizen outweigh the needs of the American corporation. 

And the cause of justice for African Americans is stronger, moving more than just people of color to the streets but all sorts of people of different races and religions to protest that injustice cannot stand. 

In my post from January 1st, 2019, I posted this graphic. 

Here's what I wrote in that post and I guess it bears repeating: 

The year will bring whatever it will bring, good or ill. 
I can hope and pray for peace. For personal success. 
I can hope and pray for justice where there has been precious little in the past year. 
I can hope and pray we just get out of the coming year alive. 
I can look no further into the future than tonight and hope that the Doctor Who special will be good.
Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine. 
So good luck to you. 
And remember to be good to one another.  

Speaking of the Doctor Who special that airs tonight, I will have my write up on that on Monday.

Tomorrow is Songs for Saturday and the day after that is Cinema Sunday. 

Until next time, good luck to you. And remember to be good to one another.