I think if you were to ask most people, they would tell you the year that ends tonight at midnight wasn’t such a great year.
In this country alone, 343 thousand people have died from COVID-19, with a record 3,808 dying yesterday.
Pretty crummy, huh?
The economy went south, and whatever recovery has come since has only eliminated part of our losses.
That’s not good.
Even leaving the safety of home and going out in public entailed major risks.
Yes, 2020 was pretty awful.
But what about people on the other end of the spectrum? The ones whose dreams came true in 2020? The ones who will forever remember it as the best year of their lives?
There were certainly amazing things happening for some people.
Joe Biden, for instance. He first ran for president 32 years ago. It didn’t go well for him then, or when he tried again in 2008. He was going to try a third time in 2016, the year he figured was probably his last chance. But his beloved son Beau, who Biden called his best friend in the world, was diagnosed with brain cancer. He died in 2015, and his dad just didn’t have the heart to run.
But 2020 was different, and in 20 days, Joe Biden will be inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States.
How about Brad Pitt? He’s been in movies since the late ’80s, and he has been a big box office draw for most of that time. He’s still a heartthrob at age 57, and in 2020 he won his first Academy Award for his supporting role in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” You don’t think he’ll remember 2020 fondly.
Yes, plenty of people had good years in 2020. For 11 individuals and one organization, it was the year their wildest dreams came to pass.
Four women and seven men won awards in sciences and literature, and the World Food Programme received the Nobel Peace Prize.
Of course not everyone runs for president … or is nominated for an Oscar … or wins a Nobel Prize.
But plenty fell in love and got married. Plenty got great jobs or had children or grandchildren.
Yes, 2020 was a bad year.
But not for everyone.