When Time Magazine picked former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris as the “Person of the Year,” they missed the REAL PEOPLE of the year.
As of this morning, according to the New York Times, “more than 15,696,400 people in the United States have been infected with the coronavirus and at least 292,700 have died.” Think of that. The people of the United States have suffered under the pressure of this pandemic since February. On street after street in dwelling after dwelling, the people of the United States have worked diligently with each other, selflessly serving each other, and steadfastly seeking to help each other make it day-by-day through this pandemic.
Yet, Time Magazine chooses politicians as the “Person of the Year,” even as the election stands in balance before the US Supreme Court where 18 states have joined Texas suing four other states with 22 other states on their side.
Time Magazine missed the REAL PEOPLE of the year.
The REAL PEOPLE of the Year
The following is a list of people who rank as the REAL PEOPLE of the year.
Front-line Medical Personnel
This list includes thousands and thousands of people across the United States. Nurses, Doctors, Technicians, Lab-techs, Emergency Room Personnel, Ambulance Drivers, Hospital Custodians, First-Responders, and Hospital Clergy. Men and women who filled these jobs worked untold hours serving the people of the United States. They put their own health and safety in jeopardy.
Every day they woke up, got dressed, headed to work, suited up in their PPT (if they had any), and went about serving others.
In the early days, they served without knowing the extent of the danger. Some in this group have died as a result of their exposure to COVID while serving their communities and neighbors. The reality though is this: all of them did their work in the early days of this pandemic without knowing what they were dealing with and the real danger they faced.
I’ve talked with doctors and nurses who would work all day around the virus, go home, strip naked in their garages, bag their clothes to go straight to the laundry, and make a dash to the shower. All the while hoping not to infect their spouses, parents, roommates, children, or whomever it is with whom they live.
Other medical personnel in order to protect their families chose to live separately from their family for months.
Day after day after day. Hour after hour. These individuals have chosen to serve their neighbors at personal loss. For that, they are REAL PEOPLE of the year.
In various states all over the Union, nursing home workers have fought against all odds to try to save the lives of those within their care. Almost every nursing home in the country has gone on lockdown. These nursing home workers enter into this environment daily with a constant threat on the lives of every one of the individuals whom they seek to serve. Their stress multiplied as some states sent new residents into their care who were active with the COVID virus.
In addition to the constant threat of death for this age group and the potential mass casualties, these same people also were forced to not just be caretaker but family to all those they served. Without the smiles, care, and love from nursing home workers, the loneliness of those in their care would intensify and the sadness overwhelming. Yet, these fellow citizens who were serving day-by-day creatively played games, offered entertainment, provided care, and sought to do all these things socially-distanced.
Day after day after day. Hour after hour. These individuals have chosen to served their neighbors in this incredibly intense environment. For that, they are REAL PEOPLE of the year.
Even when many states shuttered down their economies, the employees of retail stores which sold groceries, prescription drugs, and other necessities of living, continued to come to work each day. Many of them initially worked with very little protection. Over time, some of the businesses caught up and added plexiglas, adjusted checkout lines, and did other things to protect their employees.
All of us who depend upon them have enjoyed eating throughout the entire pandemic. We have filled prescriptions as necessary. As needed, we have used our toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and other cleaning supplies. What made that possible? Many individuals who continued to work to make it possible.
Did they know the extent of their danger? They did not. Yet, they did their work both to support their own families and support ours as well.
Day after day after day. Hour after hour. These individuals have chosen to serve their communities without knowing the extent of their own possible peril. For that, they are REAL PEOPLE of the year.
Initially as the virus threat loomed without much real information, the law enforcement personnel in our communities worked tirelessly for each of us. Again, they did not know what the extent of the threat was. Each time they interacted in an emergency situation, they did not know what they would face. Possibly the person they sought to help was a potential threat to spread COVID to them.
But in addition to all of this, in many cities all over the United States, thousands of protestors marched. At times, like here in this area, these were peaceful protests as they sought to support others in our communities with whom they identified. However, many of these law enforcement officers faced nonpeaceful protests and riots. While entire city blocks burned, people took out their rage on law enforcement personnel. We watched the footage as law enforcement officers were executed. Video streams allowed us to listen to people holler, curse, and insult police. They threw bottles of urine, shot fireworks, and other objects at these law enforcement officers. Yet, the law enforcement officers kept doing their work.
Day after day after day. Hour after hour. These individuals chose to serve their communities selflessly as they determined to keep their fellow-citizens safe even in light of the possibility of their own demise. For that, they are REAL PEOPLE of the year.
Even in light of the danger, the people in churches all over the United States continued to serve each other as they could. As they sought to follow lockdown measures carefully, they continued to care for people all over our communities. Their care had many looks. Everything possible to serve as many possible – that is what these churches did. Phone calls. Services online. Food banks. Notes. Cards. Gifts. And on and on we could go with what took place among church people all over our country.
Church leaders had to make not-so-easy and not-so-popular decisions many times. Services were cancelled, limited, and interrupted. When many other people were shuttered at home, most pastors I know reported doubling the amount of work they did. Care for people dying, the sick, the needy, and the lonely filled pastors and other church leaders’ already-full schedules. They sought to mobilize the church to serve each other and those in their communities well.
Day after day after day. Hour after hour. These individual staff and volunteers in the churches of America fought hard to make pandemic life in 2020 as good as possible for as many as possible. For that, they are REAL PEOPLE of the year.
What about our children? In March the schools all across America were forced to close. Children came home from school. School districts were forced to try to continue to educate children who were no longer under their care. Homeschooled parents were joined by all the other parents to try to educate their children in a pandemic. And kudos to the parents. Now we all know what homeschooled families have told us over the years. This is not easy.
Children continued to learn as educators on every level linked arms alongside those at home to seek to provide quality education to those of every age. Some still continue to educate from home as the pandemic continues to rage. Thankfully the fall is better than the spring. Even in saying that, we have administrators and creative staff to thank for all the various ways they have tried to make education possible in the midst of a pandemic.
We must not forget the bus drivers, cafeteria workers, support staff, and all the rest of the team who have transitioned to do whatever they needed to do in order to make education possible this year. I watched bus drivers drive routes to deliver food and other supplies to families. Support staff make the impossible possible. Custodial staff who continue to get paid as normal change their routines and work even extra harder to keep everything clean and germ-free.
Day after day after day. Hour after hour. These individuals came together at the preschool, grade school, high school, and collegiate levels to make education possible. For that, they are REAL PEOPLE of the year.
Talk about a group who need praise, think no further than our small business owners. Corporations have made it. Many of them continued on and maintained the capital to make it. However, no such capital existed for small business owners. Yet, many of them continued to pay employees sacrificially, changed their products or production lines to help others, and provided many services to their communities. They jumped through government-mandated hoops, invested in various means of safety for their employees and customers, and continued to invest in their communities with no guarantees.
Even now as many places enact or consider other shutdowns, these people watch as their entire lifetime of investment faces possible failure. They see the hypocrisy of politicians who make exceptions for various individuals, special interest groups, and for themselves. They seek to keep their employees working, keep food on the tables of their employees, serve their communities where they live, and keep from going bankrupt in the process. They go to bed stressed as they seek to keep all the balls in the air when there are many of the balls over which they have absolutely no control.
Than add the small business owners that have been decimated in these inner cities where riots took place all summer. Their only sin was to have their business in the wrong place when the city burned down around them.
Plus, thank you to all those who changed what they did to something different to help. For example, I think of homemade mask-makers as an incredibly gifted group of individuals who have served us well.
Day after day after day. Hour after hour. These individual small business owners fought to keep the shirt on their own back as they sacrificially served their own employees and families while fighting for survival. For that, they are REAL PEOPLE of the year.
The true “People of the Year” must include the American people.
We each have watched in our own streets, neighborhoods, communities, and states how individual Americans have sacrificed and creatively loved each other.
Hats off to you America. Hats off to you, the American people.
The political ruling class do not get credit for what you did. Do they get some credit? Yes. The PPP program and early stimulus helped. Operation Warp Speed is nothing less that remarkable. Some government officials have done so well. I hesitate to go into this category because this is not a political piece. They know who they are – the ones who have put the American people before their own agendas. Many local politicians whom you know did well. For sure, you know and I know some who have not. However, many have served us well – especially those in rural communities, small towns, and across county government. But these people are only representatives of the good people behind them.
You – the American people – are the heroes of this pandemic. You are the REAL PEOPLE of the Year.
Granddads, Grandmas, Dads, Moms, Uncles, Aunts, Brothers, Sisters and so many more who have chosen to stay in, not go visit, or otherwise change their lifestyle in order to be loving to someone else. Others have chosen to go and serve in other ways. People have invited others to live with them, walked through neighborhoods checking on neighbors, and gone the extra mile. Over and over and over.
Parades. Drive-bys. Learning and employing technology. Masks. Staying at home when asked. Waving at neighbors. Playing in yards. Dropping off food on front porches. Shopping for others. Phone calls. Notes. Yard work. This list could go on and on.
I have cried as I have watched whole groups of people and individuals serve in incredible ways.
As I watch you, I am proud to be an American. I am proud to be your neighbor. You make it so much easier for me to want to do more myself.
Day after day after day. Hour after hour. These individual Americans all doing their part to make their homes, streets, neighborhoods, communities, cities, counties, and states better.
For those reasons…
You, the American People, are the REAL PEOPLE of the year.
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