It is Thanksgiving here in the USA. I’m spending it by myself as my parents and I both agreed it probably was too risky for them to travel several hundred miles while the new cases were at an all time high. So I talked with them over the phone this afternoon. Called a few friends to check on them. My cleaning lady is making plates of food for her disabled and home bound clients. I made some grilled brats for myself. A local disaster relief agency dropped off a plate this morning. So even though I had to stay home I still got the traditional Thanksgiving meal. They even sent a couple slices of pumpkin pie 🙂

2020 has been a rough year for most people. Between the pandemic, protests, lockdowns, elections, layoffs, etc. almost everyone has a story from this year. We also saw the development of several vaccines within a year of discovering covid 19. We saw private space flight take major leaps. Saw the first human passengers on a test hyperloop. If the hyperloop does get as big as I think it eventually will, future generations will look back on that the same way people today look back on the Wright brothers and the first cosmonauts and astronauts. Competitive e-sports is becoming really big. Even my alma mater is going to start an e-sports team in fall 2021. And it’s a small Christian college of less than 1000 students. While I personally would rather play games than watch others play, I suppose it’s really the same idea as watching live sports like baseball and soccer on tv or in the arena.

I’m thankful that, in spite all these changes and tragedies, I am still mentally stable. 2020 is a year that people will be talking about long after I’m gone. Hopefully it will be a year when we started making the positive changes that have been needed but have been putting off. Crisis often brings out the best (and sometimes worst) in people and nations.