Most 2020 goodbyes ring with epithets on the horrors of 2020. I object. 2020 brought bad, yes, mainly due to Covid 19’s effects on the lives of masses. It also enlightened us:
-staying home makes cleaner air.
-staying home increases home gardening and thus healthier eating.
-staying home leads to a slower, more thoughtful life, to extra time with family.
-staying home reconnects us with ourselves.
2020 lead to positives that have nothing to do with Covid 19:
-increased awareness and concern for the lives of others different from ourselves.
-increased awareness that discrimination and brutality among our police exists and we need to fix it.
-increased awareness of the ever growing income gaps in our society.
Covid 19 did bring:
-an increased awareness of the impacts of any pandemic and that we must prepare ourselves because there will be more.
-an increased appreciation of essential workers and their roles in our everyday lives.
-an increased appreciation for nurses and doctors and other health care workers.
Spring will come,
flowers will bloom,
birds will sing.
Yesterday, I heard Bishop Michael Curry speak on national news. I will close with one sentence which remains with me:
“Love is a commitment to the Common Good.”
writingontherim 
Juliana, I really appreciated your summing up of 2020. Bravo! For me personally, it was an amazing year getting to know my first love again after 50 years’ absence. The wretched side of the balance was that it was filled with death and suffering for far too many souls that I love dearly. Even though the new year is just a random calendar date, may it be survivable, enlightening, a further shift in our perspective from the outside-in to, as you said, the inside-out. May we “commit to the common good” together. So, happy new year, Horse Poet. Vicky Vaughan