Good bye to 2020. Good riddance. Coronavirus was not the only epidemic. There was an epidemic of greed and corruption The swamp was never drained, it was deepened.
America was not made safer. Democracy almost became an endangered species. We were saved by Americans willing to stand in long lines to vote. Demagoguery lost the the battle but the war for the hearts and minds of our country is not over. Freedom requires constant vigilance and a firm rule of law.
Not only the virus but the invasion of cyberspace by both foreign actors and domestic conspiracy theorists threaten truth itself. A seed of doubt has been implanted in the national psyche. We no longer have a reliable North Star to guide us. Everyone has become a potential enemy of the people. Lack of trust in government and even basic science have run rampant. We don’t yet have a vaccine or remedy to protect us from fear spread by misinformation and lies.
We come into 2021 as a people shaken but not broken. We need to rebuild, not from the top down but the ground up. We need to trust in ourselves and one another to repair the damage in our society and rediscover the ties that bind us. We must confront racism, sexism and every form of division and prejudice. We have seen much suffering but also a willingness to serve, comfort and console one another. Let us go forward in this spirit of community, hospitality and love.
Frank Warman
Hopkinton