Life requires closure over and over again. We end an apprenticeship with an exam, pregnancy ends with birth, we conclude phases of our lives and lock doors behind us so nothing gets stolen. This year we conclude a year that many of us would prefer not to have lived through. The waves of coronavirus swept much rubbish to the shores of our lives: scientific gaps, a lack of know-how, unsuccessful development, authority and anarchy which we had long believed to be extinct, indignity and condescension. A lesson in incompetence and muddling through. At least now, slowly, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Some believe the vaccination will sort it, others hope for legal fights to be won, or for elections and of course there are also the professional optimists who always knew that there would be a happy ending, if you just waited long enough.
I am closing this old year with joy and satisfaction, without fireworks and New Year’s Eve celebrations. Knowing that the corona 2020 is over is enough. Enough closure and reason for a very quiet celebration. Let’s remember we are laying to rest 2020, a year that died of or with coronavirus, we don’t know exactly. That is a death that makes me want to celebrate.
Wishing you a good end of the year
Gertrud Müller