By Stephanie Ellis-Smith
It seems like only a few months ago that I was summing up that infamous year, 2020. Yet here we are again sitting with the realization that we’ve made it through another monumental year. I don’t know about you, but 2021 seemed LONG. The Capitol insurrection on January 6th was this year. A new presidential administration was inaugurated this year. COVID vaccines became available this year even as new variants continued to emerge. Texas fell into a deep freeze and Ida nearly blew the Southeast off its axis, while much of the West went up in flames. We cheered for amazing athletes at the Tokyo Olympics! The multi-talented Zaila Avant-garde won the Scripps National Spelling Bee, Britney was freed, and billionaires launched themselves into space this year as well.
We also lost many amazing people. There are too many to list, but those public figures who stood out to me are Tommy Lasorda and Elgin Baylor, sports icons from my childhood; statesmen Colin Powell and George Schultz; iconic artistic figures like Cicely Tyson, Chick Corea, James Levine, and Beverly Cleary; activists who gave so much of their lives for justice, like Chief Leonard Crow Dog and William Sterling Carey; and of course, the gone-too-soons: Virgil Abloh and Michael K. Williams.
As I read through all that happened this past year, one thing struck me the most. These are all experiences we’ve shared together: laughter at silly TikTok dances, elation and pride for the global scientific community on their incredible achievements, grief at so much loss (the needless and the inevitable), and just the daily grind of getting through one day at a time while navigating too much uncertainty. 2021 did its best to try to start off on a hopeful note--we were desperate for a fresh start after a terrifying 2020. But instead, we descended into greater division and chaos than we had before. I have to hope for a fresh start again in 2022. Maybe if we all can acknowledge our common humanity despite our profound differences, we’ll have a chance in 2022.
The holidays are such a busy time, and especially this year given we have some semblance of normalcy. But perhaps we can spend a few moments each day thinking about our deep ties to each other and what it means to belong. Cultivating belonging and community amidst so much division is an uphill battle for sure, but it is one we must continue to fight. We’ll explore this theme more in our January blog but, for now, I will end the final post of 2021 with wise words from Chief Seattle:
“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.”