By: Keith Kappes
Columnist
Carter County Times
At the close of 2020, the politicians told us to cheer up because things could be worse than the hot mess we endured that year.
Those 12 months had included a nasty presidential election, a crumbling economy, several natural disasters, more gun violence and nine months’ worth of a deadly, virus-based pandemic that killed hundreds of thousands of Americans.
When 2021 arrived, we couldn’t have much of a New Year’s celebration because of social distancing, mandatory mask wearing, remote learning in our schools and colleges, and wide unemployment leaving millions without money to spend on entertaining.
Lo and behold, 2021 turned out to even worse, despite the fact that many laid-off Americans were either called back to work or found other jobs. We had about a million more job openings than we had folks actively seeking employment.
But even that glimmer of hope evaporated near the end of the year as millions joined the “Great Resignation” and walked away from jobs, including those with well-paying, even promising, careers.
Natural disasters became more severe in 2021 as tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, floods, and extended drought conditions added to our national misery and heartache.
Many officeholders who lost in 2020 tried to rewrite history by claiming the elections had been stolen through vote fraud but not a single case has been prosecuted.
An attack on the U. S. Capitol was the result of a failed insurrection and marked the first anti-governmental violence on that building since the British burned part of it during the War of 1812.
Meanwhile, our nation’s frustrations with the economy, with national and state leadership, and with the Covid pandemic began to manifest in fights, even killings, in public and private places.
Sadly, lifelong friends and family members started feuding with each other over various political and medical issues and an epidemic of hate speech has overwhelmed social media and other forms of communication.
The delta and omicron variants of the coronavirus have raised the death toll and we’ve had trouble keeping up the supply of covid tests and vaccines. Hopefully, virus researchers in other nations say omicron is not as dangerous as delta but more contagious.
To vaccinate or not to vaccinate now is influenced heavily by political considerations and, as a result, most of the positive cases and deaths are happening to the unvaccinated, including children.
As an optimist, I’m ready to cheer up if we can agree to hope and pray for a better year in a kinder nation.
(Contact Keith at keithkappes@gmail.com).
