Hope in the New Year
A 2021 article from the Tribune detailing hope for the new year after a long, raging pandemic
When looking back, 2020 was quite a year, and not always in the best of ways. Looking back, we spent more of it at home than we would have liked to have. COVID-19 isn't any new news, but it had a huge impact on the way last year went. For example, as students, we spent the rest of our school year at home, starting in March. This was when everything was starting to shut down and COVID suddenly turned for worse from being a minor concern to a more significant concern. And so we spent about 5-6 months at home. Though this wasn't all, as businesses closed, mass amounts of people ended up in quarantine, and many people were urged to work from home if possible.
As we have revisited last year's difficulties, I think that looking ahead, we have a bright future ahead of us. With all of the disappointments of not being to do the things that we usually did in the past years, looking ahead, I think that it appears that the virus is coming to an end. Even if the virus is still a concern, I think that we need a change from last year, and that means at least attempting to get back to where we used to be. Looking ahead, I think that we have the opportunity to formally end what troubled us last year, and return to doing the things that we enjoy. We all have learned the ways that we have failed in the past year, and we are ready to succeed with what is ahead in the new year.
Will 2021 be better than last year? It is unclear to us what will be ahead of us at this point, but I think that we have an even brighter opportunity to improve in the year ahead. We have the ability to accomplish new things, meet new friends, and create new memories. From year to year, it is hard to say which would be the best out of them all, but every day can be a good day and we can start towards that by doing the things that we enjoy. In the end, I think we can all agree that 2020 wasn't quite what we were looking for. This year, I think that we all hope that it is by far better than the last, and in time everything will get better. It has to, doesn't it?
This article was originally featured in a 2021 issue of the Waukon High School Tribune which appeared in The Standard (a local newspaper serving the communities of Northeast Iowa, including my hometown, Waukon, Iowa).