THANK YOU, 2020

Jodi Barnes, PhD
4 min readDec 4, 2020

A nod to our (relative) luck that it was you among infinite possibilities

Hey, 2020: Before your time is up, I wanted to let you know that I know you are not the villain.

You are a container of time. A time begat from all past time.

You are the year that gets tossed the hot potato when the buzzer goes off. Not a malicious creator of chaotic crimes against humanity.

Your container is a cup repeatedly running over. It has sloshed, waterboarded, and drowned us to varying degrees in pandemic proportions. I am not making light of suffering and death. I’m trying to find a way to acknowledge that you, like anyone, may be stretched beyond the breaking point.

Photo by Thorn Yang from Pexels

Since your purpose is to offer 365 days, not to be responsible for what’s happened during them, I’d like to acknowledge that keeping humans safe from wildfires and other repercussions of this ailing planet is not your job.

Nor can you be blamed for a global pandemic and the morally and ethically bankrupt leaders who have blood on their hands.

You aren’t 1492 or 1619, or any of the subsequent 400 years America has had to acknowledge, apologize and make…

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Jodi Barnes, PhD
Jodi Barnes, PhD

Written by Jodi Barnes, PhD

Writer and Collaborator-in-Chief of https://www.14wordsforlove.com where small acts of writing, art and conversation create multicultural connections for good.

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