Number 121

 Stop Blaming 2020

If you've been following your FB memes lately, you'll know that 2020 is taking it on the chin. The consensus seems to be that this is the worst year ever. I mean this year's had a little bit of everything: A global pandemic, racial disharmony, an American presidential election straight from the pages of the National Enquirer, etc. etc. Right now, 2020 is about as popular as a bad case of hemorrhoids. It delivers the same kind of pain, too.

I can't wait until I wake up on January 1, 2021. Everything will be fixed and working perfectly. Covid will disappear and racial harmony will be achieved. Institutional racism will be a thing of the past. The hungry will be fed, and the folks without a home will find shelter. That annoying road construction project will be completed. Dogs and cats will live in harmony, and we'll be able start putting Trump in our rear view mirrors.

Yeah, right. 

First of all, according to Jewish tradition, the year is actually 5781. The Chinese will tell you it's 4718. The Balinese Saka calendar insists it's 1942. And on and on. So to blame it all on 2020 is a little bit provincial when we have so many other years we can choose from.

And really, when you think about it, how many of the things that are making 2020 so historically miserable really be blamed on 2020? The most obvious example is Covid-19. It may not have been number one on the charts back in 2019, but, as a song, it was already being played on a few radio stations around the world. And if you seriously think that we're just around the corner from this fucker disappearing, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you - cheap!

Donald Trump has been an amoral, narcissistic, PoS all his life. Why would 2020 be any different?

Maybe you have a point about George Floyd being the first Black person to be murdered while in police custody. Surely we can blame 2020 for that. For goodness sake, we sorted all that pesky racism stuff out when the North won the US Civil War. We were doing so well until Mr. Floyd made the mistake of volunteering to be that nice police officer's knee rest. What was he thinking? Didn't he know that might be dangerous?*

Or, in other words, 2020 became the year that maybe, just maybe, our country finally decided to have a real conversation about our indefensibly bloody and torturous racial history. If the legacy of George Floyd's murder is eventually perceived of as the tipping point - when our country stopped turning a blind eye to the racism that permeates our society - then his death (among all the others), will not have been in vain.

Look, I know it's tough right now. There's a lot of shit we're trying to live through right now. It has left us feeling raw, wounded, and vulnerable, and there are times when it's really, really hard to move forward. But it's not the fault of 2020 that all these kettles came to a boil at the same time. We'll survive, especially if we remember to be kind to one another; as well as ourselves. I wish you all well.

*This paragraph has been brought to you by Intense Sarcasm, Inc. Bringing you the best in sarcasm since 1966.