A friend of mine recently made comment on the passing year, claiming that he will be a year younger than his birthday from now on because 2020 didn't exist.
For some of us this year seems to hang in a time warp. Time has slowed as coronavirus protocols and fatalities reshape our lives within hours like a clay pot being turned on a craftsman's wheel.
It has been four years since my mother died and Donald Trump became the President of the United States of America.
It has been three years since I moved to my new home in Dannevirke and worked as an electoral officer in the election that brought Labour to victory after the nine year rule of National in New Zealand's government.
This year the world is at the mercy of the whims of human nature and political scheming, and the relentless threat of viral exploitation where witless complacency will take no prisoners.
What's that cliché? "Keep alert and stay awake. The world needs more Lerts". We can probably do with fewer wakes … especially in Brazil and the USA.
People like Trump and Bolsonaro could probably use a Tuit – a round one. Seriously though, it's morbidly interesting watching developments as they unfold and I can only watch and be astounded at politically short-sighted procrastination.
Dr Fauci is probably right in predicting 100,000 US cases per day if current trends continue.
"How many roads must a man walk down before they call him a man and how many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died?"
That is a very good question Mr Dylan. The answer depends on who's listening.
Bronzes of Brisbane: (from left) Arthur Hoey Davis (1868-1935), pen name: Steele Rudd, writer; Emma Miller (1839-1917), pioneer, trade unionist and suffragette; Sir Charles Lilley (1830-1897), newspaper editor, Premier and Chief Justice of Queensland. Photo / Christopher Cape
Regular readers will notice my pedantic, arguably inaccurate decrying of the media and my concern for balanced communication. In politics I am more concerned with the ethical values a politician holds to than how much of a street fighter and personal assassin they are.
I'll respect politicians and media if they keep their word to me, display integrity, and provide me with reasoned argument for their position. They might even win my vote.
Four years ago I cheered when Trump won the presidency because, as far as I could see, the old guard, the status quo of apparently self-satisfied American political lineage, needed to be shaken up, and the American people would get what they deserved.
Now, seeing the calibre of the man, I'd rather cry "Dump Trump". Another four years Trumped could well plunge this globe into a Sino-Soviet-American border war, or some other catastrophe.
Conversely, in New Zealand, I'll probably see red over this election. Labour will hopefully win in spite of Judith (Crusher) Collins holding the helm for National.
I recall that previously, for nearly a decade, National held New Zealand in its grip. I don't think that their governance over that period was entirely healthy.
New Zealand has weathered some devastating events over these last two years. I think we need continuity of tenure to allow planning to be consolidated and, if Labour does mess things up by the next election then change, at that point, would be a possible option. The future is unpredictable, as has been seen over these past days, and no government has all the answers.
Therefore I think we need to keep alert because we humans only have this one spaceship. We need to maintain it wisely and that maintenance reaches well above and beyond politics.
