Accomplishments, If Any

For some people, their proudest moments during the pandemic are that they got up and out of bed each day. They brushed their teeth and combed their hair. If they did nothing more, at least they did this. And they feel proud of having done this little amount.

I wish I’d written a book. Lots of people wrote a whole book in the last twelve months; some wrote more than one. I wish I’d scored a play or movie or painted something that moves people. I wish I’d run a marathon (26.2 miles) in my apartment or on my balcony. There are people who did this during COVID and, on the average, it took nearly seven hours to do so. People also set up food pantries, knitted blankets and hats for the homeless, and came out of retirement to provide medical aid. I am not one of these people, but I admire their desire to remain busy and productive. Kudos to you all! Your selflessness is admirable.

During this past year screenplays have been written and produced, life has been conceived and delivered, and I wonder about the future of this block of babies born during COVID-19. What will this group be called and what characteristics will be attributed to them because of the timing of their birth?

But I digress.

Students have matriculated from one grade to the next … hopefully. New laws have been forged, through anger, strife, and derision, as well as through compassion and trust. Our faith has been tested and been shown to be strengthened or weakened. Some days we held strong and others we were a heap of anger, weepiness, and despair.

It’s not too late to do something you’ve been thinking of doing. As things out there begin to open up, you can still create and develop something fantastic inside, alone, without telling or sharing with anyone. There’s also a chance we’ll totally screw up this recovery by not doing what is required to stay safe and keep others safe, which will provide more opportunity for you to identify something and accomplish it because you’ll once again be on lockdown.

As elders in the community, we have a ready-made excuse for staying in and doing more on our own. Along those lines, I’ll probably wear a mask the rest of my life. There’s always the 5% or more not covered by the vaccine, and the variants are constantly in the news and may pose a threat to those already vaccinated. Plus, I’m high risk. This fact gives me a personal “Pass Go” card to stay where I am and work on anything that pleases me, even if it isn’t a tryptic oil painting or a series of books – or even one book. During this time when my focus hasn’t been the best, it was a challenge to read one book, let along write one.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if you created or developed or accomplished anything. If you’re still here, reading this, then you did enough. And that’s an accomplishment to be celebrated.