A year of isolation – 2020

Bio

These pieces generally run annually in time for Hanukkah and Christmas.

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, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, 1859.

From March on it has been a year of isolation.


We are all essentially alone.

To point out the year’s villains is a simple task.

  • A murderous, psychopathic Pig in the Oval Office, who will have killed 500,000 Americans when all is said and done.
  • The 74mm Americans who just voted for Pig.
  • The US legislature which has ensured millions of Americans have not enough to eat.

But it is far more positive, more hopeful, to name the many heroes who are helping ensure that we will soon be returning to sunlit uplands:

  • The frontline doctors and nurses who risked everything daily in the service of their fellow man.
  • Two Turkish Muslims without whose pioneering work there would be no vaccine. These are the people our Administration has demonized and excluded.
  • The 80 million Americans who saw the light of day and returned Pig to his natural habitat, the ordure he so richly deserves.
  • Jeff Bezos and his superb workforce. Without his wonderful Amazon and Whole Foods home grocery deliveries I would almost certainly be dead.
  • But, most of all, my gorgeous son, who took the courageous decision to take a gap year before starting as a freshman at college. His optimism, joy of life, increasing debating and argument skills and pleasurable company have been a gift impossible to ever replicate. Thank you, Winston.


My son.

Images: Leica M3, 50mm Summicron, Kodachrome, 1978. iPhone 12 Pro Max, 2020.