Out with 2021, in with 2022

BY PETER ROSENSTEIN

As we brought 2021 to a close, I think back on the highlights, the low lights, and those times we just managed to live our lives day-to-day. For many of us that was the majority of the time. I look forward with hope to 2022.

The year 2021 began with the Jan. 6 insurrection. Those of us in D.C. lived with armed national guard troops on the streets for weeks. We had the weird experience of actually thanking Vice President Pence for something — doing the right thing. Then came Jan. 20 and the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. It was a glorious day bringing hope for a better year. Lady Gaga sang and Amanda Gorman recited her poem “The Hill We Climb.” It seemed to all a new day had finally begun. But it wasn’t to be an easy time and Trumpism was always in the background.

President Biden proposed his broad economic agenda, still not completed, but there is hope much of it will happen. Many of the promises he was elected on will be honored.

Politics continue to be nasty and Republicans continue to be the Party of No. Many of their members on the Hill are both disgusting and frightening. School shootings continue with the most recent one in Oxford, Mich., the 28th this year.

For most of us, 2021 was the year we kept hoping the pandemic would finally abate. We prayed we could get our lives back to normal and once again hug and kiss our family and friends without worrying about catching COVID. For many of us getting the booster shot was the key to that. We know there will continue to be COVID and hope that the shots will protect us against the newest variant, Omicron.

That gives me hope as we enter 2022.

While not back to normal, there is a feeling some things are better. Friends just returned from a trip to New York City and said it’s crowded once again. Restaurants and theaters are packed.

In D.C., walking down 17th Street or 14th Street, you see crowds once again.

One of the best things to come from the pandemic are all the new eateries, outdoor seating for restaurants. They are packed with diners and when it’s cold they have heaters the city helped fund. By all accounts Mayor Muriel Bowser helped keep D.C. functioning and mostly safe during this past year. Clearly it hasn’t been easy but through perseverance her policies seem to be working. Now we just need more people vaccinated, more back in their offices and more tourists arriving, which will once again make for a thriving downtown.

The highlight of my year was a transatlantic cruise on the incredible Celebrity APEX. Getting to Barcelona to meet the ship was my first time on an airplane since March 2020 and there was something liberating about that. After a few days in that city, where about 80 percent of the population was vaccinated and no one questioned wearing a mask indoors and on public transportation, I felt very safe.

Arriving back in time to see Democrats lose all statewide races in Virginia and nearly lose the governorship in New Jersey was not a pretty way to end the year.

I look forward with a positive attitude to 2022. I spent New Year’s Eve with friends in Rehoboth Beach as I have for many years. I have continued to hope the owners of bars and restaurants at the beach will do what’s being done in New York, L.A. and by many in D.C. and other cities asking for proof of vaccination from their patrons even if it isn’t mandated by government. Not holding my breath for the Rehoboth Beach Commission to mandate it. Once the ball came down in Times Square to signal the beginning of 2022, I had hoped Democrats would surely enact some form of the Build Back Better bill so President Biden could talk about all he has done for the people one year into his administration when he gave a report to the nation during his State of the Union speech.

In addition to all the domestic advances, it will be the first time in 20 years the nation is not at war.

So here’s a toast to 2022, to family and friends, old and new. To remembering those no longer with us and to seeing a future for all with health, hope, happiness and peace on earth.

Peter Rosenstein is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist.