I seem to have misplaced the year 2021.
I could have sworn it was around here someplace, but after days of fruitless searching, I find neither hide nor hair of it. I can only assume 2021 disappeared into the same, nameless abyss that made off with my spare house keys, flip phone, socks (left foot only), reading glasses, and youth.
I don’t think I’m alone in this dilemma. It seems that, for many of us, memories of 2021 are already a little vague, fuzzy, and confusing. It was a mirage of a year, a phantasm annum, a span of twelve months during which nothing made sense and little was as it seemed.
We all recall 2020 and usually wish that we didn’t. But, the 2021 experience was like slowly waking up from a fever dream; it was all shadows and smoke and mumbling. That’s really not surprising, seeing as how this past year encompassed more bungled actions, tone-deaf messaging, and catawampus thinking than I would have thought humanly possible.
Let’s review a few of the sage tidbits offered up by our best and brightest. In 2021, we were told:
- Wear a mask inside, unless you’re exempt due to wealth, fame, or political office.
- There’s no need to wear a mask at a crowded football stadium, because it’s technically “outside.” And besides, nobody ever yells, screams, or expels aerosols at an NFL game.
- Always wear a mask at a restaurant, unless you’re using your mouth to eat, drink, talk, drool, sneeze, spit, cuss, or breathe.
- Get vaccinated, or don’t, because it’s a personal choice, unless there’s a mandate in which case you must, unless you refuse, which immediately makes you a leper or war criminal.
- Believe the CDC, unless they disagree with the FDA or the WHO. In such a scenario, you should follow the advice of either, neither, none, or all.
That was just the tip of the iceberg. Our national spokesmodels, both the elected and the selected kind, seemed far more interested in poll numbers, social media status, and bamboozlement than in truth or fact. The forces of ineptitude were strong with this gang, and I don’t have the gumption to relive a second of it.
I suspect that many of you feel the same way, which is why much of this past year is AWOL. It’s not forgetfulness, senility, or dementia … it’s survival. If a year could have a smell, then 2021 smelled like amnesia and bad fiction. It was a little like a cross between the old Ray Milland flick The Lost Weekend and the Charles Dickens novel A Tale of Two Cities.
In the former, the lead character was a hardcore, blackout alkie who couldn’t pry himself away from the hooch. In the latter, Dickens opens with his famous line: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
That combo accurately describes 2021 America. We were all drunk as skunks, morning to night, on never-ending, 24/7 covid fact and covid fiction. At the same time, for every moment of wisdom or intelligence, there was an equal and opposite reaction of world-class stupid.
Those who enjoyed 2021 are welcome to keep it.
I suggest we leave it behind and try to move forward.
This article was originally published in the January/February 2022 edition of Missouri Life magazine.
