Happy Thanksgiving. I find myself grateful today for my health, my family, and my home. There's a twinge of sadness with that second item, though, as I celebrate a holiday weekend without seeing many in my family. As I write this, I'm still working through some grumpiness at having to miss out on time with Mom and Dad and siblings. Nephews and nieces, too. The three who are most immediate and who daily bring me joy are with me, and I need to keep that in mind. The home is in good shape (getting a little tired of it, of course). And the health would be better if I were ten or fifteen pounds fewer.
I'm hoping that 2021 will give me more occasion to write than this past year did. I most often use the word crummy to describe 2020. Exhausting, though, might be just as apt. I set forth with this blog years ago as a means to comment on what I was seeing politically. As 2020 wore on, I found myself so fatigued and dismayed (and at times angry) that writing on that arena was the last thing I wanted to do in my spare time. When I hashed out arguments in my head, I was bothered by how often my tone turned to bitterness. I came across a quote today from Friedrich Nietzche that seems appropriate to what I experienced: "He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster."
Now I find myself trying to take care. My greatest hope for the upcoming year is that we simply become nicer to one another in this country. As I experienced it, political discourse became yelling. And I'm tired of the yelling. Communities, churches, families . . . too much yelling, not enough listening.
I'm tired of the precautions and limits, too. I've been back at work now for more than three months. Masks. Social distancing. Limited numbers of students and teachers. Teaching in that environment has been exhausting, and I had thought three months of adhering to rules and enforcing rules would permit me three days of family and food. I was wrong, and I've surrendered to the fact that in this age of Covid-19, I put my mind to what I need to do and respect that I'll often not get to do what I want to do. I pray that one year from now freer to move about our communities, churches, and families, and that those realms once again remember how to be nice.
