Well it’s almost over – 2020 that is. We’re almost elated at the thought of saying goodbye to this year. It was like none other than most of us have experienced in our lifetime – filled with anxiety, fear, depression, insecurity, hopelessness and even death.

The pangs of ending something and beginning something new are often bittersweet, but there wasn’t really a lot one could call sweet about 2020 – or was there? Certainly it was a year of conflict within our own borders. It was a year of change in many ways. It meant giving up a lot of our freedoms and luxuries. It also was a year filled with chaos and disappointment. We could look at 2020 as a year of disaster – one we will have no problem saying goodbye to.

Yesterday, as I listened to our president elect talk about COVID19 and his mission for moving forward, I felt almost a complete lack of hope. Like the governor of my state, it’s going to require even more sacrifice in 2021. We all know that we’re living in the midst of a pandemic. We have adjusted in spite of that. We need a little encouragement right now, not a speech filled with gloom and doom. But I digress.

No matter who is running our country, we are still citizens of the greatest experiment in history – democracy. We learn from our past mistakes. We push forward in the face of disaster and adversity. We are a nation of free thinkers and entrepreneurial spirits. We are used to our freedoms and often resist when we’re told what to do. We are also a nation founded on the principles of the God of our fathers.

We can look back at 2020 as the darkest days ever or we can push ahead with hope and excitement for a new year filled with opportunities, hope and lessons learned. I choose the latter. It doesn’t matter who our leaders are really. It’s who we, the people are. If we continue as a nation under God, it’s all good.