Johnson City Parks and Recreation Special points of interest: ~ Goodbye 2020! ~ Administration Highlights ~ Athletic Division Highlights ~ Park Services Division Highlights ~ Golf Division Highlights ~ Recreation Services Division Highlights
A Walk in the Park Your Parks and Recreation Connection I s s u e :
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Goodbye 2020! It’s needless to say we’ll be happy to see this year move on in hopes of a brighter 2021. When we talk about 2020 as the worst year ever we mean many entangled things: A pandemic. A fractured economy. The ways the pandemic has divorced us from routines we rely on and people we love and our delusion that the future is in our control. A divisive election, urban unrest, racial tensions, wildfires and even murder hornets it’s hard to deny that 2020 has been pretty rotten. But sometimes when we say "worst" what we really mean is strange. This is a very strange year, and frightening in its unfamiliarity. Even so, most of us can look around on most days and find pleasure and beauty not conjured by the word "worst." A sunrise or a sunset or a kind gesture. But good things have happened during this pandemic - people are helping each other. At-home parents are taking in the kids of working parents; people are dropping off food on neighbors porches who are under quarantine; food trucks and restaurants are delivering free food to those in need. People are connecting with each other on social media so no one feels abandoned. Nurses and doctors are working around the clock to save lives and essentials workers in all walks of life have stepped up to the plate to assist in various ways throughout this pandemic. I have even seen private citizens offer to help pay the rent for strangers, simply because there is a need. Homeschoolers everywhere, who are fully used to having their kids at home all day, are sharing tips on how to homeschool temporarily—practical, real-life advice and encouragement for how to find some unexpected joys when you have to do your best while you don’t really know what you are doing. But it is good to know that people are still people, still willing to visit each other, still willing to bring hope, still willing to share what they have. So let us go get a bell and ring in 2021. Ring it for other people. Amplify the good you have and the good you know about. And ring it for yourself. The isolation will not last forever. There is so much good in the world. We have not been abandoned.
4137 Bristol Hwy. Johnson City, TN 37601 Phone: 423-283-5815 Fax: 423-283-5829 Email: jcparksinfo@johnsoncitytn.org
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