When 2020 roared in, we had such high hopes. It was the beginning of the decade, (or the end, depending on your perspective) a leap year, an election year—our plans were big, and our dreams were bigger. Then came COVID-19 and everything normal and logical got turned on its ear.
Most of us don’t wear a “world’s richest person” label so what we do with our money may not be newsworthy, however, I suspect if we did and we were trying to leave the world better than we found it, we’d have a few projects on our list.
This Thanksgiving I have more reasons than I can count to be thankful. I try to live triumphantly every day, but this year has been filled with a tad more adventure and activity than I would’ve ordered in a given year. As November began, I warned that I would be celebrating my birthday all month and that is still my intention though my official 65th birthday has come and gone.
I believe experience is a very fine teacher. In her class I learned from the good, the bad, and the ugly—each lesson etched across my forehead like a badge of honor. I’m not sure which ones I learned the most from, but like Thomas Edison and his invention of the light bulb, I know a million ways not to do the same things the same way again.
Before our next national elections, here are three lessons we ought to consider:
I voted today. No, it was not my first time, but this time was different. I have been voting since 1973 when the law first allowed 18 year olds to be part of this rite of passage. Almost without fail, every four years, every two years, every time there was an election of any sort, I cast a vote, so I was unprepared for the emotional state I found myself in today.
I am reluctant to affix labels on people, but Congressman John Lewis seems to have earned the ones I’ve heard associated with him since his death on July 17th. Considered the moral conscience of the Congress, he’s been called a fearless and tireless advocate for freedom and justice, and a man who was often surrounded by chaos but chose to be better and not bitter.