Merry Christmas

Opinion

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Posted: Dec 24, 2020 12:01 AM

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

Enjoy this Christmas, we desperately need it, and with all we’ve been through this year, we deserve it.

This year sucked, 2020 was a complete bust. But it is Christmas Eve, next week will be for a look back at the bad, let’s focus on the good today.

We have a vaccine, several actually, for the plague of the 21st century, at least so far (I said I’d focus on the good, but I have to be realistic too). The idea of a vaccine within a year was unheard of before this year, laughable really. But it happened. And while life is not back to normal, the light at the end of the tunnel is visible and growing. Considering the alternative, and history, this may be as close to a provable miracle we will all see in our lifetimes. Given 2020, you take your victories where you can find them.

Another side-effect of the pandemic is we’ve learned what is important in life. Family and friends, thanks to the Internet and the disposable culture we’ve created, had fallen down the scale in importance next to old tube socks and professional rugby. Now we get it. If there’s any lasting impact, and silver lining in this 10-month cloud, let it be that.

We also discovered just how resilient we are, not only as Americans, but as a species. There have been tensions, mostly over oppressive restrictions, but not societal meltdown. People seem to have forgotten how things were at the start of this. Long lines at gun stores were a testament to the concern that the wheels could come off. They didn’t. That could have gone a different, really bad direction. But where government fell short, and state and local governments fell very short, people stepped up.

The radical left showed the world who they are this year, and that’s a good thing. BLM-ANTIFA rioted for more than 100 consecutive days, and while the Democrat-establishment media used all of their powers to obscure that fact, the rest of the country saw. They destroyed mostly Democrat-controlled cities, Republican-controlled ones wouldn’t put up with that garbage, wasn’t interested in their lies or demands. Meanwhile, the idiotic left-wing Mayor of Portland got himself pepper sprayed trying to express solidarity with these goons and still had to move because they were harassing him. When leftists show you who they are, believe them. The public did.

Thanks in no small part to that mob, Republicans made big gains in the House of Representatives when they were predicted to lose in significant numbers. That, in and of itself, is something worthy of being grateful for; the added humiliation of Nancy Pelosi is another. Considering just how awful she is, her scrambling to spin almost losing the House to save her job was almost worth the price of admission. It also sets Republicans up to take the House in two years. Quite the legacy for the Speaker.

It wasn’t all good, of course, but today isn’t the day to focus on those things. We still have a long way to go, but we’ve come a long way since the start of the pandemic. Back then, we had no idea what it was or the mortality rate. All estimates had it significantly higher than it thankfully turned out to be. As sad as every death is, it was predicted to be much, much worse. It’s not much to be happy about, but it’s something.

In a year as horrible as this one has been, you have to take your victories, no matter how small, wherever you can.

Yes, 2020 was an awful year and we’ll all be better off when it is over. And it could have ended a lot better, it simply wasn’t in the cards. But it could’ve also been a lot worse, way worse, and it wasn’t. For that, and if only for that, we should be happy. Also, and I hesitate to write this because if 2020 showed us anything it’s that unexpected things can pop out at any moment, but as far as 2021 goes, there’s nowhere to go but up. Or at least we can hope, which is still better than nothing.

Derek Hunter is the host of a free daily podcast (subscribe!), host of a daily radio show on WCBM in Maryland, and author of the book, Outrage, INC., which exposes how liberals use fear and hatred to manipulate the masses. Follow him on Twitter at @DerekAHunter