Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
Five hundred twenty five thousand moments so dear
Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure? Measure a year?
In daylights,
In sunsets,
In midnights,
In cups of coffee,
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife
In five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure a year in a life?
“Seasons of Love” from the Broadway show Rent.
2020…oh my goodness.
We sure have been through a whole lot together.
Covid.
Social unrest.
Division.
So much division.
Before we say goodbye to a year I think we all yearn to see in the rear view, let’s pause for a few moments and reflect on what we’ve experienced.
This is the deadliest year in US history with deaths expected to top 3 million for the first time due mainly to the coronavirus pandemic.
Final mortality data for this year will not be available for months but preliminary numbers suggest that the United States is on track to see more than 3.2 million deaths this year or at least 400,000 more than 2019.
That’s a staggering number.
It’s almost too much to comprehend.
But we need to try because we end the year with so many families in pain, hungry and lost. Friends, our world needs a lot more empathy if we are to create a better world for our children.
U.S. deaths increase most years so some increase in fatalities is to be expected but the 2020 numbers amount to a jump of about 15 percent and could go higher. That would mark the largest single year percentage leap since 1918 when tens of thousands of US soldiers died in World War I and hundreds of thousands of Americans died in the flu pandemic.
Yes, this has been a helluva year.
We won’t ever forget 2020 but while we are anxious to turn the page and resume our lives, I’m hoping we don’t blindly rush forward. I’m hoping we drive slow and consciously think about how we can make this world a better place. I know that’s kind of a sappy sentiment, but sometimes the world can use a little sappiness.
We are at a crossroads. Down one path is more fighting, down another is a chance at healing and progress. We can’t have both. It’s one or the other.
I happen to think that we are very weary of fighting each other. So many people I talk to are tired of the callousness, the meanness and the insensitivity of our discourse.
I sense that we long for kindness, community, purpose, meaning, love and empathy.
We need to carve out a space for gentle hearts to thrive in this world.
How do we do that?
By standing up to bullies.
By rewarding kindness.
By extending a hand to those who need a lift up.
By setting the record straight– if we can.
By doing what we can to help others.
Simple things make a big difference.
While 2020 was brutal, it did force us to slow down. That’s a good and valuable thing.
If we were lucky enough to take the time to reflect, we realize that life is both fragile and precious.
Last holiday season, nobody knew the word Covid and yet the virus upended our lives and almost took mine; proof that we are vulnerable and tomorrow is not guaranteed.
While we know that intellectually, it’s easy to lose sight of our mortality and fail to prioritize what’s truly important. In 2020, gliding through life became harder and for many of us impossible.
So as we close in on another trip around the sun for some reason the words to a Jimmy Buffett song are swimming around my head.
“Yes I’ll make a resolution, that I’ll never make another one.
Just enjoy this ride on my trip around the sun. Just enjoy this ride.”
To my friends, I hope you enjoy the ride. Please stay safe and let’s do what we can to make 2021 a better year for everyone. That’s my prayer for the New Year.
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