May I Have a Word With You?
Every year I pick one word to guide my actions, thoughts, intentions, practices and relationships throughout the year. Lots of us do. I find it is a much better way to remain focused on self-improvement than devising resolutions when you’re rested and hopeful and have yet to resume real work. Last year’s word eludes me. Whatever it was, I obviously abandoned it quickly in favor of another: Survive. It sounds melodramatic, but in truth every single one of us, whether touched directly by Covid-19 or not, were thrust into survival mode. We had to elude an unknown and unseen killer and take a harsh look at friends, family and neighbors who reacted in ways we didn’t expect, even as death tolls rose and public health officials implored us to think of others. We had to survive months of quarantine with people whose habits, hygiene, hobbies and humanistic shortcomings we could no longer escape. We had to survive being unable to hold, touch, even see our closest family members, especially