As we creep toward the last hours of 2020, I think we're all looking forward to saying goodbye to this awful year. Looking back, it seems like it was one disaster after another, with the anxiety and grief of a major pandemic, crushing loss of income and security, and, to top it off, a pivotal political election. Mix in the other losses and stresses of the year, and you end up with a year in history none of us are ever likely to forget.
Can you remember back to last January? You didn't have a single face mask in your home, I bet - except maybe just a dorky one for using the belt sander. And only a year ago 'social distancing' meant pretending you weren't home when your neighbor knocked on your door, or not answering the phone when telemarketers called. Those days feel a million years ago.
I've decided that if 2020 was a real person, he'd be a pretty unpleasant guy to have as a neighbor. He'd be the kind of guy who never cleans up after his dog, plays loud music in the middle of the night and is always late with his rent. If you could write a letter to that guy, what would you say?
Maybe you're more tolerant than I am, but I've decided I'll be plenty glad to see the back of this year. So here goes: a farewell letter to this Year of Disaster:
Dear 2020,
This letter is from all of your fellow tenants. We had a meeting yesterday and it was unanimous: we never want to see your sorry face again.
As you know, at precisely midnight tomorrow your lease will expire, and we want you out. OUT, do you hear? You've been nothing but trouble since you moved in!
Oh, you weren't too much of a problem at first, though quite a few of us objected to your political games. But when you came home coughing last February and we all started to get sick, things went south pretty fast. Soon we were stuck at home, sitting through endless Zoom meetings, lonely, depressed and eating too many Oreos. Our kids were miserable, missing their friends and trying to deal with school on a computer screen.
But you - what did you do? Through it all you just kept acting like nothing was wrong - even while the virus spread, taking more and more lives. Remember Mrs. Patel next door? She was such a nice person! Did you really have to invite her granddaughter to that stupid party last summer?
And that was just the beginning, of course. It's just been one thing after another: struggles, protest marches, wildfires, layoffs, bankruptcies - on and on and on. More and more of us don't know where our next rent check will from, and still the death toll just keeps going up, month after month.
And then, if all that wasn't enough, you had to do all this in an election year. Have you no pity?
OK, we have to admit, we did find a few silver linings over this awful year. We had some great moments where we came together: supporting our health care workers, doing Zoom concerts, learning how to connect online. We counted our blessings more and discovered how much we need each other, especially in hard times. Maybe we grew a little, who knows?
Still, you've made our lives miserable and kept us scrambling from one crisis after another for a whole year, but those days are almost over.
Have you met our new tenant yet? 2021 seems quiet and well-behaved, a nice guy with a steady job. He even wore a mask to the rental interview! His wife's a doctor, and she tells us better times are coming, if we can just hang on there for a few more months. I think she's right.
So here's the deal. You pack up your gear and be out by midnight. We're ready for a new beginning! Goodbye, good riddance, and don't let the screen door hit you as you go!
Sincerely,
Every human who's survived this past year
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