At the start of the second year of our COVID-19 normal world

One year. It is a sad anniversary, a year since the coronavirus pandemic turned the world on its head. It has been a year of forced changes, uncertainty, sickness and death. It has been a year of working from home, reduced hours and lost jobs. It has been a year of closed schools, students trying to learn from home and parents, usually moms, adjusting their schedules, with many moms giving up their jobs to supervise and support their children.

2020 was the year of no: No eating out; no festivals, concerts or parades; no fireworks; no sports; no church; no weddings; and no gathering for funerals.

In person meetings have been out, with governments and school boards conducting the people’s business by Zoom, without the public, or government officials themselves, present in person.

Most incredibly, it has been the year that COVID-19 killed 534,000 Americans, far more citizens than any other country. That is 534,000 lives lost since last March, a toll greater than U.S. soldiers killed in two world wars and Vietnam.

It has been a year of the mantra of “masks, wash your hands, social distancing and gather small.” It has been a year in which we were told not to travel.

And it has been a year of individuals pushing back and refusing all of it: no masks, no social distancing and arguing against facts, science and the lives of their fellow citizens.

Early on some, romantics, philosophers and idealists, or just overly hopeful that crisis and tragedy would force profound change, projected “a new normal.” If not lions lying down with lambs, then a realization that our status quo, 20th century individualistic, go it alone approach to shared worldwide problems would be thrown on the dustbin of history. Alas, 2020 just turned out to be the 120th year of the 20th century.

The opportunity still exists, as is true daily, for us, we the people, society, whether it is Skagitonians, Washingtonians or Americans, to pull together, one nation, whether under God or not, but together for the common good, for our joint and shared survival.

Making 2021 a year of “yes,” a time of opening up, achieving sports spectatorship, movie and museum watching and yes, fireworks, requires continued and even more work on every citizen’s part.

For decades we have held the belief that “only you can prevent forest fires.” It is just as true, that only you, working in unison, can snuff out the coronavirus.

We are not yet on that path. But the opportunity, as it was in mid-March is 2020, is still there, still awaits us.

In the meantime, until all of us are willing to work together for the common good, the rest of us need to continue wearing our masks, washing our hands and social distancing.

Yes, vaccines are here. But the pandemic remains among us and within us.