It's the day we've all been waiting for. The year 2020 is gone and will not be missed. Today is the first day of 2021.
New Year's Day is traditionally a new beginning, full of happy expectations for the coming year.
And could we use that now.
But not everyone is so optimistic. As one wag warned on Facebook, "If you think 2020 was bad, wait until it turns 2021 and is legal to drink!"
Now that's a sobering thought.
Honestly, we can't predict what the new year will bring. No one can. We greeted a 2020 full of promise and then COVID-19 hit. Who saw that coming?
But we can hope.
We hope we finally turn the corner on the pandemic. That people get vaccinated, wear their masks, practice social distancing and the number of new infections - and deaths - drops dramatically.
We hope our nation recovers economically. Business owners, employees, entrepreneurs can all get back to work without burdensome restrictions.
We hope this year brings peace to all. The greatest gift our nation could receive would be if all our brave troops were able to come home safe and sound, their presence no longer needed in war zones and hot spots across the globe.
We hope this year keeps our people-especially our children-safe from violence and other tragedies.
We hope this year brings a government that can rise above partisan squabbles and power grabs to put the needs of the country first. And we hope this year our people give more attention and importance to what unites us rather than what divides us.
We are still the United States of America. Our flag still flies.
And no year, however bad, will defeat us.