Other than being an arbitrarily assigned marker for our next solar orbit, there is little cosmic significance to January 1. It doesn’t even fall on an equinox or solstice for heaven’s sake! And yet, most of us always celebrate it as a significant new beginning. We need to. It gives us hope, even when that hope has little basis in fact.
But I think this year’s transition feels different to most of us. There are several substantial reasons for optimism, for the belief that 2021 will be a much better year than 2020. Here are the top three for me.
In the U.S., we will finally have a new president. Now I realize that there are over 70 million people in the country who probably disagree with most of Joe Biden’s policy positions. Let’s just set that aside for a moment. I wonder if the vast majority of those 70+ million might be feeling relieved, maybe secretly so, that we will now have leadership in the White House that is not self-centered, that is widely respected abroad, that is both competent and empathetic, and that will attempt to heal rather than divide.
In the U.S., we now have two approved Covid-19 vaccines, both with very high efficacy and safety results. It will probably take several months before we’ll begin to see the major effects of these vaccines on our society and economy, but we will see encouraging bits of evidence along the way. These should give us reasons to persist in our efforts to keep each other safe in the interim. And, as an important side benefit, they should help to counter the odd and destructive anti-science sentiment that has crept into portions of our society.
Over the past year, we have seen a significant move toward the production of electric vehicles. Some have been available for a few years but many others will begin selling in 2021 and 2022. The auto industry, world-wide, is no longer just playing around with the concept. It is about to dive in headfirst. If we can couple this trend with improvements in our national infrastructure, including an upgrade of the power grid and an acceleration of the shift to clean power generation, we can begin to make a noticeable contribution to the health of our planet. With our new administration, there is a good chance we can at least make some progress along these lines.
Of course, not everyone is ready to celebrate. Most of us at least know someone who has suffered with Covid-19. Some of us grieve the loss of loved ones who have died from the pandemic. Many are suffering acute financial stress. Others continue to fear for their own safety in the face of police brutality, the rise of white supremacy, and other forms of hate.
We must not lose sight of any of this while we hope for a better year. In fact, recognition of these huge challenges should help us focus our efforts to turn hope into reality. We know that 2021 will be different almost no matter what we do. But it can also be much, much better if we work together to make it so.