Oh, masks, too. We're generally free from masks.
Take a moment today to appreciate the difference from July 4, 2020. A year ago, we were in our first reopening (although we were really just ensuring the spread of the coronavirus, leading to further shutdowns in the fall). We were in the middle of the most divisive presidential election of our lifetimes. We were trying to navigate nationwide protests.
A year ago, it felt a little bit like the world was coming apart.
We're certainly not in a perfect scenario in 2021. The social and political divisions that made 2020 so nerve-wracking are still there, even if they're a little under the surface. COVID-19 is in retreat, but not fully defeated. There are still plenty of things about which to be anxious–gas prices, social justice issues, whether the Giants can keep winning, etc.
But July 4, 2021, is so much better than July 4, 2020. And there's reason to think that the next six or nine or 12 months will be better than the previous ones.
Maybe I'm a Pollyanna, but this is the most optimistic July 4 I've experienced in a long time. Maybe in my lifetime.
Sometimes it takes a terrible year – arguably the most anxiety-creating year of our lives – to make us appreciate normalcy.
On to the topics du jour . . .
• • •
Clarification: When I said "Maybe I'm a Pollyanna," I was being rhetorical.
I'm definitely a Pollyanna.
• • •
Last reference to 2020: Remember when we used to complain about a year being terrible because a lot of celebrities died?
Remember 2016, when Prince, David Bowie, Nancy Reagan, Garry Shandling, Merle Haggard, Muhammed Ali, Gene Wilder, Arnold Palmer, Alan Thicke, George Michael, Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds all died? Remember how people consistently said that it was the worst year ever?
Now we have a different perspective.
I'm not glad that celebrities die, but 2020 changed that storyline, right? A famous person dying doesn't make a year bad for those of us who don't know them personally.
More than a half-million of our countrymen dying does that.
• • •
High five: Best songs with "America" in title (apropos to my age, they're all from the same era):
5. "We're an American Band," by Grand Funk Railroad. Includes the timeless lyric, "We're coming to your town, we'll help you party down."
4. "America" by Simon and Garfunkel. Paul Simon's lyrics about a young hitchhiking couple provide a melancholy look at America in the late 1960s.
3. "Young Americans," by David Bowie. This was Bowie's first American hit. Even better? Lyrics reference Barbie dolls, Richard Nixon and quote the Beatles' "A Day in the Life."
2. "Living in America," by James Brown. The anthem from "Rocky IV" was Brown's last real hit song.
1."American Pie" by Don McLean: Arguably one of the 10 greatest songs of the past 80 years, even though it's overplayed on the radio.
• • •
Parting shot: For the first time in our marriage, Mrs. Brad has latched onto a sport without me.
The Tour de France is on TV for five hours a day, every day and she watches. Of course, I'm not home much of that, but it's kind of remarkable. She started watching bike racing last fall during the pandemic and now is interested in three-week race across Western Europe. Every day she tells me about athletes I don't know.
Now I know how she's felt for 36 years.
Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@outlook.com.
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