I will be on vacation next week, so this is my last blog of 2020. And too much happened this year not to learn from it. So . . . what are you taking from 2020? Here’s my list of 10 takeaways:

1. Just because they are national food chains doesn’t mean they’ll always have their shelves stocked.

2. Tiny occurrences in obscure cities on the other side of the world can have a massive fallout right here.

3. Internet platforms have their downsides. But in a crisis, they can sure help us stay connected.

4. The core pillars of democracy still function in the U.S. today – but they will break down if we lose trust in each other.

5. Policies precede prejudice. We create systems to benefit ourselves and then we find ideologies to justify them.

6. Faith in God is most useful not when everything is going well but when nothing makes sense.

7. Nurture family relationships – in a pandemic, it may be all we have.

8. You don’t have to gather people together to make a difference in your community – one-on-one discussions may even have a bigger impact.

9. Community members really can support each other – we don’t always have to rely on a big government program to do the work of care.

10. History is about decisions I am making today. What happened in the past is simply archival.

Godspeed in 2021.

Please click “Comment” to let me know your own takeaways!