I’ve been on this planet since June 1949, and I can say with total confidence no year of my life even remotely compares to the one that — finally — will end five days from now. The year 2020 has been a bad one at nearly every level. It’s as if some kind of “trickle down” process has been at work, allowing national misfortune and tragedy to creep down first to Ohio, then to the greater Columbus area, and ultimately to my own circle of friends and family. The one overriding source of fear and stress has been the COVID-19 pandemic. Besides afflicting millions of Americans — and killing over 300,000 — it has brought vast changes to the way people interact. We must now stay a minimum of six feet (“social distance”) apart, wear protective masks indoors, avoid crowds, and disinfect anything open to public use (e.g., grocery carts, door handles, exercise equipment).  Athletic events, concerts, social gatherings, and organizational meetings have been canceled or conducted with limited attendance. Schools, libraries, museums, theaters, and other venues for learning and entertainment have closed their doors. In the case of schools, educators have tried to instruct students through online channels, especially “Zoom” conferences.

Yet even as hospitals fill up and medical professionals collapse from exhaustion, large numbers of Americans ignore precautions and take a business-as-usual approach to their lives. Some believe the pandemic is exaggerated or an outright hoax.  Those who refuse to wear masks have different reasons for their recalcitrance. It infringes their right of self-expression. It makes them appear weak and vulnerable. It covers up God’s creation. Yet, as I understand it, wearing a mask is an act of respect to others. Because more than anything, a mask prevents you as a potential virus carrier from spreading the disease to those around you.

The divisiveness created by the 2020 Presidential election added yet another layer of conflict and stress. In my view, President Trump has been the chief culprit here. Months before the campaign started, he sowed widespread discord by implementing draconian policies toward immigrants, gutting environmental protection measures, weakening background checks on firearms purchasers, undermining the Affordable Care Act, and initiating a trade war with China that did not go well. Worse, he has set a terrible example by his cavalier disregard for the coronavirus pandemic, going so far as to rarely if ever wear a mask even at crowded events. Democrats, however, are not blameless. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, for one, was caught without a mask, getting her hair done at a San Francisco salon that was supposed to be closed due to the pandemic. At the same time, so-called “Progressive Democrats” have been adding fuel to the fire with insults aimed not only at Trump but Republicans in general. What has emerged is a badly divided country with Trump supporters and Trump opponents loathing and disrespecting each other. Caught in the middle are people like me, who long for a return to civility.

In the midst of the political discord, 2020 has seen an appalling spate of police killings of unarmed black men and at least one black woman. It began in Minneapolis, with a police officer pressing his knee on the neck of George Floyd while he lay face down on the pavement. Despite Floyd’s pleas that he couldn’t breathe, the officer didn’t move his knee for about 8 1/2 minutes. When he finally did, Floyd was dead. Other police killings followed, usually with guns being used. The last two occurred in central Ohio and made front page news in the Columbus Dispatch. While some of the victims may have engaged in disruptive, if not outright criminal, behavior, the question remains: Why did they have to be killed? As more people of every color began asking that question, the Black Lives Matter movement took shape.

Along with human-made misfortunes, an unusually large number of natural disasters struck in 2020: fires in California and Colorado, floods in Michigan, and so many hurricanes the National Weather Service ran out of names for them. As for the fires, the ones in California burned more than four million acres across that state, about doubling the previous record of nearly two million acres set in 2018.  In Colorado, the Cameron Peak Fire became the largest in state history, burning more than 208,000 acres.

With the exception of the natural disasters, my friends and family brushed up against other misfortunes of 2020. My sister-in-law’s parents both contracted the virus and had to be hospitalized. The son of Ann and Joe Ottobre also tested positive for the disease but experienced no serious symptoms. My daughter lost her sense of taste and smell (two tell-tale symptoms) for awhile but tested negative. More than anything, the fear of the coronavirus brought disruption and inconvenience. For my stepdaughter Sarah that meant wearing a protective mask for most of her 8-hour workday at a food production company; for my daughter Ruth and her family, it meant postponing their trip to Columbus until May; for my stepson Andy, it meant struggling to build a coherent fall sports season for his high school amid cancellations and reschedulings; for me, it meant providing tutoring to Columbus State students through e-mail and online videos.

For the most past, my family avoided the discord that came with the election aside from some occasional arguments over just how bad and dangerous the President was. While not all of us were enthusiastic about the Democratic ticket, we realized it was better than what we currently had. As for the killing of black men, the significance of those tragedies was brought home by the fact that the latest one occurred just one street over from my son’s home.  And the anger generated by the killings was highlighted to me during a dog walk through East Granville Park. Inside the park’s open shelter house, a wanted poster had been tacked up. It called for the arrest and prosecution of the sheriff’s deputy involved in the shooting of the first central Ohio black man. The questions surrounding the killings here and elsewhere are under investigation, and in the case of George Floyd, the officers involved face criminal charges. Regardless of what the investigations reveal, the Black Lives Matter movement appears to be here to stay.

We all wish 2021 will be a better year. The development of two vaccines gives us hope the coronavirus will be brought under control. The inauguration of a new President also brings hope our nation will begin to heal from the divisiveness engendered by Trump and his foes. But as is true with any new year, there are no guarantees either for the country, the state, or my own family. I can only hope that when December 2021 arrives, I’ll still be here to write another blog.