How Will We Think of the Year 2020?

The "No Visitors" sign that has been posted
outside of the monastery since we closed to visitors,
taken by Sister Thomasette Scheeler

So far, with more than half of the year over, 2020 has definitely been bizarre. Our usual routines have been totally upset, so that “normal” is foreign. Every day seems more uncertain than the previous one. I can’t ever remember months and months like this before. And, I don’t like it.

Yet at the same time, I do like some things about the chaos of the times we are living right now; for example, that changes are happening.

Because the death of George Floyd, the ensuing protests and riots raised awareness of the ongoing racism in our country, and people are being forced to look around and talk to one another.  Taking a look at our history that points out the need to finish the job of giving “everyone” equal rights, equal status and general equality, becomes a real job for all of us

The coronavirus pandemic has helped us see the reality of the unfairness in many of our systems, such as health care and education. In order for the horrors of the pandemic to be resolved, we need to come together as community to examine the glaring issues facing us. A truly vital issue is changing of the mentality of “me” to “we.” Finding ways to beat the virus must be done together rather than something we tackle individually. Doing this will give us a chance to become stronger as a community, getting important, life-giving things done for all of us. Strengthening our beliefs that we are a nation of strong moral principles is essential to our collective future.

Where is our God in all this? Hopefully, God is right beside us, cheering us to the finish line. Daily prayer strengthens our path and our ability to continue being who we are, people of justice, law, and order.

Will we use humor to get through the hard times? I hope so because this tool is very real in helping us understand the way through rather than around issues. If we laugh together, we can strengthen our bonds and our understandings of one another. Already funny videos and cartoons have been produced that help us laugh at the many inconveniences of the times.

So, when we look back on 2020, we can remember the hard times, the seemingly impossible hurdles, but also the great lessons we learned to forge ahead in making our country a “more perfect union.”

Mary Jane Berger, OSB