On New Year’s Day, I could almost hear a collective sigh of relief from my entire community. Could you hear it, too?
The year 2020 felt a lot like running a marathon that never seemed to end. When it finally did, we all felt the brief reprieve.
But even though it’s natural to be glad 2020 is over, 2021 is already presenting us with some of the same challenges. Instead of just “getting through it” and waiting for the next year to arrive, it’s important to focus on the good.
I picked out some of the best social media stories from 2020 that happened in our little communities and decided to share them with you. Here are some of the ways 2020 actually rocked, even when we previously thought it was a “dumpster fire.”
Several people hopped online to thank others for making sure misdelivered Christmas packages made it to their rightful owners. Kudos to those kind-hearted package sleuths for restoring our faith in humanity!
Many people paid for others’ food in 2020, either in fast food drive-throughs or in grocery stores. In a year when many families were struggling financially, I am sure this help was received with grateful hearts.
A police officer received much-deserved recognition online after he purchased Christmas presents for a family he didn’t know in Wal-Mart. To make the story even sweeter, it turns out that the family the officer helped was in the act of buying Christmas presents for another family in need.
Our communities rallied together to raise donations and create “The Best Christmas Ever” for a local family who lost their husband and father in a tragic construction accident.
Food drives were put together by volunteers in our communities. As a result, an incredible amount of food was donated in a short time period to bring relief to the food-insecure.
A “good Samaritan” at Costco loaded a woman’s groceries into her car and gave her $200 before he left as quietly as he arrived.
A kind-hearted man stopped and presented hot chocolate to a crossing guard at Larsen Elementary on a particularly cold day.
I can’t possibly list all of the acts of kindness demonstrated by members of our communities during one of the most difficult years in recent memory. And these were just the stories posted online. I can’t imagine how many other stories went unpublished, but not uncelebrated in the lives of the givers and recipients.
As I read story after story, I realized that what we look for is what we see. If we look for the good, we’ll find it, even during dark times.
Even better, we can become the good that helps others hold on through those dark times.
To borrow a thought from Charles Dickens, the year 2020 was a reminder to me that even in the worst of times, we can work together to make it the best of times as well.
