"I won't be contented with yesterday’s glories
I can't live on promises winter to spring
This is my moment and now is my story
Who knows what tomorrow will bring"
— From “Today” as sung by the New Christy Minstrels
The end is in sight, and there are probably not too many people on this planet who won’t be glad to see 2020 come to an end.
A pandemic has seen life change for almost everyone. People have been sickened and all too many have perished from COVID-19. Others have seen economic devastation as they lost jobs or saw businesses go under from the tsunami of collateral effects from the virus.
Children have seen changes in how they are educated. Concepts such as hybrid and distance learning have overtaken the face-to-face instruction generations of Americans have known. Most of us didn’t even realize that we had face-to-face learning. We just went to school. But that was before 2020.
Masks, once relegated to Halloween celebrants and bank robbers, are now on almost every face. Sanitizing gel and spray are found in almost all businesses, every home and many of our automobiles. Hand washing, once a before-meal occurrence, is second nature after any and all contact with outside sources – twenty seconds of scrubbing to ward off the virus.
Terms like quarantine, social distancing, bubble and cohort, rarely used before this year, are now commonly understood in light of coronavirus. And no one has looked forward to getting a shot more than the millions awaiting the protection of the vaccination that was recently approved.
But is 2020 a total write-off? Has there been nothing worthwhile in this year to forget?
My wife and I have used the time to do some clearing out of overgrown vegetation in the back and side yards. We planted sod. We weeded the garden. We brought down tenacious vines and dug up more smilax tubers than I care to recall.
Like others, we found that we missed seeing friends on a regular basis, yet Facebook and other social media have allowed us to keep in touch. We started a daily ritual with our Chicago family – story hour via FaceTime. Although we were unable to be there in person, we’ve actually spent more time with Ezra and Aviv by way of the internet connection than if we had been able to drive to the Windy City.
Just when it was thought that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, I learned. Teaching for nearly 20 years at USC Aiken has been a way to use my journalism skills and get to know lots of young people. This semester, I was the one who was doing a lot of the learning.
Instead of going to class every Tuesday and Thursday morning, I’ve gone into my upstairs office and taught using the University’s Blackboard conveyance. It took awhile to get comfortable with this form of instruction, but I (and the students) managed to do it.
Mary Lou and I have foregone restaurant dining for occasional takeout as well as our favorite cooked-at-home meals. And drive-thru coffee pickup for her favorite beverage has become a regular endeavor. It was on one such occasion that I had time to think about this year and what it means.
When I got to the pickup window on a recent Sunday morning to pick up the hot latte for Mary Lou, the drink was still being prepared. That is when the young woman at the window said that there was a question of the day if I would like to answer it. Sitting in the car with nothing else to do at the time, I answered affirmatively.
It was to the effect of, “What song symbolizes your life?” I’d been expecting something like, “Who won the 1960 World Series?” something that I know so well (Pittsburgh Pirates). But this question caught me off guard. Quickly thinking, I said, “Today.” The woman at the window looked at me with a quizzical gaze and said she had never heard of it.
The song came out in 1964 in an album of the same name released by The New Christy Minstrels. From somewhere in the recesses of my mind I silently conjured up the melody and some of the lyrics – those found at the beginning of this column.
“Why that one?” she asked.
I explained that even in a pandemic, we shouldn’t be hasty in wishing the year away. There is nothing we can do about yesterday. It has come and gone, and if we dwell on that we are living in the past.
Tomorrow has not yet arrived. We can plan for it and look forward to the days ahead, but living in the what-might-come of the future ignores the present. Today is the only one that we can actually do anything about. If we sit around hoping for the promises of tomorrow and lamenting the woes of yesterday, what are we doing about today?
I try to live in the here and now – pandemic or not. Today is the day that matters.
Happy New Year to all.
The Link LonkDecember 27, 2020
https://www.postandcourier.com/aikenstandard/lifestyle/this-and-that-it-s-a-year-to-forget-but-what-about-today/article_cffbf836-44ba-11eb-a5e6-ef242382b45d.html
THIS AND THAT: It's a year to forget, but what about today? - Charleston Post Courier
https://news.google.com/search?q=forget&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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