Most people have found the 2020 calendar year something of an adverse experience. And from a population perspective it was with global civilian deaths, threats to the primacy of the voters in America, restrictions on travel for everyone, and much loss of personal contact. It was also a time of innovation. I can attend seminars with the top minds in the world electronically, previously inaccessible to me. Scientists who understand what's on those posters that I just walk past at meetings assembled to create a number of intricate immunization options in short time with unprecedented ingenuity to distribute these innovations to a global population.
For me personally, I didn't get real sick, but wondered about it for a few days in April when my sleep pattern reversed and a headache took over, reversing over a few days. I wonder if I was hypoxemic. That led to a purchase of a pulse oximeter, which I've not had to use. I feel good for the most part. My weight records show about a 5 pound reduction in weight, not change in waist circumference, but pretty consistent exercise performance over the course of a year. I got away for my son's wedding. I read more than my predetermined quota of books. As Zoom enables connections to the world I've signed on my share of the time.
Some fundamental relations are different. My emotional attachment to synagogue has withered and probably won't be restored. Some people and institutions have demonstrated that while they meet the minimum of B'tzelem Elokim, my respect requires more than the lower threshold. My B-list has gotten longer. And I have enough stuff, almost enough experiences, so my wants have become fewer. Some Me Time, Family Time, and a few reliable forums to express myself in a responsible way.
So the world moves from one year, a difficult one, to another with the optimism that it will play out as less burdensome than the last. It probably will. I can try to make it a more congenial time in my own way.
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