Some things have that ring of truth to them. “A pinch of sugar in your pasta sauce makes all the difference.” “You need sensible shoes if you’ll be walking all day.” “We’re all doing the best we can in corona times.”

You know, truthisms.

I’ve been thinking lately about what people will think when they look back on 2020. Not people like us, the ones living it, the ones making it through day by day by everlasting day. I wonder about the kids who’ll be sitting in history class in a hundred years – although now that I think about it I should probably be wondering about those poor teachers trying to explain the madness that was 2020.

So people were dying? Like, DYING, dying?

Yes.

But what about the doctors? Why didn’t they do something?

They did everything they could but it was a brand new virus. It swept through the entire world. Millions of people got sick. Millions died. Just trying to stay safe until the scientists made a vaccine was on everyone’s mind.

And that’s when they closed the schools? And the movie theaters and shopping malls too? And they stopped letting kids go to basketball games??

Yes, many places weren’t allowed to be open while they tried to get control of the virus. It was a hard time in America and all around the world. People lost their jobs and their businesses. They couldn’t pay their bills and some had landlords that tried to evict them. It was a terrible time.

But the people in charge helped, right? How did they fix it, Mr. Jones?

…..

And that moment right there is when every teacher who’d studied The Year Of Our Lord 2020 will have to bite their tongue hard to keep from saying gee, Aviana, that’s a good question. You’d think they’d have gotten right on that but the United States had put an asshat in the White House and he thought duck and cover was a better plan of action…

…..

Seriously, folks, future generations are going to study this period and wonder what in the actual hell was happening in America. I can only hope they learn from our mistake.

Linda hosts Stream of Consciousness Saturday. This week’s prompt is “ring.” Use it as a noun, a verb, an adverb, or an adjective…use it any way you’d like. Have fun!