I distinctly recall, as I write this, rushing to make an end-of-year post on Dec. 31, 2019. It is now Dec. 31, 2020. Here I am again. The hours of the year are fading fast.
People tend to do review the events of the wider world, or their own lives in a narrow sense, at such times. What can one say about 2020 except this:
This is the “annus horribilis” of the firstquarter of the twenty-first century. With four years left in this quarter-century, I can’t imagine any of the others being worse. Across almost all possible measures, a terrible year.
(Without getting into it, I think the problems are much more of our own making than anything. Certain historical trends are active which have inevitably found at outlet, if not through the surreal craziness through which they manifested in 2020, then some other way sooner than later. But we could have, and should have, done better. I am ashamed of us.)
In some ways I feel it still is Dec. 31, 2019, right now, and there has been a 366-day (leap year) pause. Nothing has advanced. We’ve lost a lot of time.
But it wasn’t all bad. I worked hard for a time I greatly enjoyed and greatly excelled at, being promoted to a leadership position on merits and being consistently one of the best performers. I have been juggling other projects. Life moves on.