The winner for 2020

THE YEAR 2020 has been a year of hardships for many and yet the strength of human spirit has shone through in so many ways with people reaching out to their neighbors and showing their generous side so often.

Rather than looking for what was lost, it might be worth looking for who were the winners. Zoom, Skype and other video conferencing platforms had a great year and now everyone knows how to turn the mute button on and off.

Perhaps the biggest winner was an amusing one, the Four Seasons Landscaping company. They gained worldwide fame when for some reason US President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani decided to hold a press conference in the car park/conference center there rather than the Four Seasons hotel which only had standard single use conference facility. No comedian could have predicted this in a parody nor could they really explain why it happened, but it gave them plenty of material for their acts.

The company, although initially confused, appreciated the publicity and the massive upsurge in sales, and has even developed its own motto, “Make America Rake Again”. Sometimes the gods smile on you and in this case probably laughed loudly.

Letter writers will miss the insanity of the Trump presidency.

***

Goodbye to 2020
“Merry Christmas to all and enjoy your time with your families.”

If only it was that simple. Most countries had very restricted celebrations, with the United Kingdom going back into lockdown, and the US should be going into lockdown.

Too many people found the end of 2020 very challenging and sadly a large number, heading towards two million, were not here anymore to celebrate.

Don’t worry, Santa already had his vaccination and had special travel permissions.

Here’s to a better 2021.

***

Read on and on
The Relief and Spending Bill has been printed, or at least produced online. It is 5,593 pages or about 11 reams of paper of 55 pounds (over 20 kilograms) which would be beyond many safe lifting weights without the use of safety equipment.

 For comparison, Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” is only a bit over 1,200 pages and most people find that a challenging amount to read.

The Bible comes in about 1,200 pages as well although far more people have read it, or said they have.

I’m not a politician so I can’t really say what should be included in a law and I am certainly not going to read it to find out, but surely it could be said in less than 10 pages if they were precise.

Read on, and on, and on. Actually, stick with the Bible, it’s a better story, and has some good life advice there as well.

***

Oops, they did it again
One of the skills of leadership is the ability to unite those that work for you and to have their complete support. This has been completely “undemonstrated” by Donald Trump with many of his appointees being fired or resigning depending on who made their statement first.

The latest “deserter” who actually did what was right rather than what was wanted is US attorney general William Barr who is not appointing various special counsels.

His Supreme Court appointees have “deserted” him by doing what is actually right and making rulings based on the law. Surely, it’s time to notice that people are actually doing what is right, not what is wanted. (dfitzger@melbpc.org.au/PN)