An important part of the Festivus tradition is the "airing of grievances" over dinner. Depending on where you were in the world, the state made such an airing rather difficult for the second straight year. I've already seen Queen Elizabeth, the Pope Francis, and a bunch of world leaders offer year-end messages of hope, renewal, world peace, and good health for 2022. I suppose it's part of the job.
2021 undercut my optimism about a lot of things. Indeed, as I ponder the past two years, my cynicism and despair about our collective trajectory has only grown. A different "Pope," the English poet Alexander Pope originated the phrase "Hope Springs Eternal," as a way of saying that humans have a way of looking forward to brighter days despite any current gloom. Sure. But as we close in on the second full year of what strikes me as an increasingly futile effort to manage a pandemic, I've decided that most of what I have is actually a list of grievances. There's a good chance you won't agree with me on many of these. I long ago concluded I was on an island by myself; neither MAGA-hat wearing, anti-vaxx conspirator, nor member of the cowering herd.
