The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Goodbye 2020

Seriously, who can think of a crazier year than 2020? Thinking about all that happens just makes me want to crawl into the fetal position. Australia was ravaged by wild fires, the 45th president was impeached, and we almost went to war with Iran. And that was just January!

We’ve had to live through a once in a century pandemic, see mass unemployment and evictions, watch the economy take a nose dive, endure the ping-pong of our communities opening and closing, watch helpless while the virus ruined industries, turned our world upside down (and it’s not done turning our reality upside down), and mercilessly claiming lives.

We’ve watched in horror one episode after the next of police brutality and exclaimed how we’re in the 21st century and we have not yet abolished racism. The West was ravaged by wild fires, while the East and Gulf endured an unmatched 12 named storms.

Some of us had to become teachers overnight, to our poor kids who were robbed of normal education and social interaction.

We’ve suffered losing greats like Kobe Bryant, Chadwick Boseman, John Lewis, and RBG.

We all withstood a most divisive and polarizing election, one that’s still ongoing more than a month after it should have ended!

How much can we endure?

As I said at our last quarterly meeting, it’s been a blessing for vCom to be a source of stability through an unstable year. As I reflect on this crazy year, the word that comes to mind is “hope,” and it’s in no small part due to how I have seen my vCom family react.

Through loneliness, I saw people reaching out to one another.

Through immense challenges, I watched people lend a helping hand.

Through ugliness I saw kindness.

When healthcare workers ran out of PPE, one of our own made them from scratch and distributed them.

When local businesses were struggling, we stepped up with gift cards.

When community organizations were suffering, we all came together, raised funds, and donated them. And we’re doing it once more this holiday season!

When our communities needed help, our extended family answered the call. They were willing to put their own lives at risk in compassion with others. To them, and to all front-line workers, we owe a great debt of gratitude.

In the face of systemic racism, we took a stance, and decided to walk the walk rather than just talk.

We stayed close through video. When we could, we came together. We kept our spirits high through laughter, annual traditions, and new traditions.

We celebrated our precious newcomers. We feted our outstanding graduates for their perseverance and great accomplishments.

And thanks to our very own dynamic duo, we celebrated all the good news that was fit to print.

We did all that because that’s the vCom spirit – we’re more than just a business.

Where do we go from here? As the Reverend Desmond Tutu said: “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all the darkness.”

I am grateful for my vCom family. And although we’re not out of the woods yet, my heart is filled with hope for the future, and all that we can and will do together.

In the meantime, let’s all get ready to give 2020 a proper send off.

And to borrow a chapter from the one and only, John Oliver: Goodbye 2020!

May 2020 truly serve as a reminder of the resilience, kindness, and the capacity of the human spirit to overcome and rise, together, above challenges, real or artificial.

In this holiday season, we wish you, your families, friends and loved ones, health, laughter, good fortune, and most of all, joy.