Reflections

Reflections/31 December 2020/By: Lawrence S. DiCara

Nobody could have predicted how 2020 would be so different than any other year in my lifetime. To quote Roy Hobbs in The Natural: “Life didn’t turn out the way I expected.” It was a very different year for me, for our family and for our nation, but our nation is strong, and we have endured difficult times before. To some extent, just as human history was defined for centuries as “B.C.” and “A.D.” and our parents spoke of “before the war” and “after the war”, those looking at this year will delineate “pre-COVID-19” and “after COVID-19”!

William Butler Yeats wrote in 1919 “Things fall apart. The center cannot hold.” Historians have suggested that 1919 along with 1861, 1932 and 1968 were years when “things fell apart.” The same may be said of 2020. As Dave Barry wrote recently, “Compared with 2020, all previous years, even the disco era, were the golden age of human existence.” 

A young lawyer in Springfield, IL named Abraham Lincoln, spoke before The Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield on 27 January 1838. His words hold true today as they did then: “Let reverence for the laws be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges… let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice.”

To some extent, our reverence for the law has been challenged in 2020, not only at the highest levels of our government, but also as it impacts our individual lives, as each of us have been requested to live very differently; many of us have complied and many others have not. It is as simple as wearing a mask and as complicated as accepting the results of a free and fair election.

Speaking personally, working remotely has been a challenge. I have remained productive and find that Zoom calls and other platforms unheard of in years gone by have helped me to bridge the digital divide which separates my daughters’ generation from mine. Nevertheless, I worry about the future of the American city as a center of commerce if many of its most productive citizens see no reason to come Downtown on a daily basis. Fed Ex notwithstanding, I would still prefer to be Downtown surrounded by the hustle and bustle of human beings.

In Jamaica Plain, my usual companions on my walks are geese and ducks and squirrels but, in Marion, especially early in the morning, my companions are often deer and families of turkeys, often large in number, and an occasional fox. It is as if they understand that only a few of the two legged among us are out and about early in the day which means the four legged can romp as they see fit, as did their predecessors! It is as if nature regains its sovereignty when human beings are few and far between.

As much as I have come to enjoy my contemplative walks, always with a mask on, when I pray, and think, and develop themes for my articles, I would, however, prefer to be walking from 10 Post Office Square to City Hall and greeting people along the way. 

As much as I have enjoyed reading voraciously - two books many weeks since March – I would prefer to be waiting to represent a client before a municipal board at City Hall.

I do wonder whether some among us are becoming accustomed to living the life of a recluse and growing accustomed to no face-to-face meetings. I am not suggesting I am about to become Thoreau and build myself a cabin on the shores of Walden Pond, but one can grow accustomed to locking the door on a rainy Saturday and reading a book, somewhat oblivious to all that is going on in the outside world.

On occasion, I have even watched movies – many of the not so popular ones are free - and have learned as much from some of the movies I have watched as I have from some of the books I have read, many of which are worthy of recommendation. Among those I plowed through during my isolation were:

The Splendid and the Vile - Erik Larson

His Truth is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope - Jon Meacham

Fifth Risk – Michael Lewis

Boston Made – Robert Krim

Boys Adrift – Leonard Sax

Why We Sleep – Matthew Walker

The Coddling of the American Mind - Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt

Our Towns – James and Deborah Fallows

I am not sure I have ever recommended any movies before, but then I have not spent as much time at home as I did during the past year. “Hidden Figures” – detailing the journey of black women working for NASA in the 1960’s - was outstanding. It included many messages regarding race, gender and power. Two other movies I enjoyed watching were “42” and “RBG.” I also watched the Netflix series “Trial4” which detailed the unethical conduct on the part of some Boston Police officers in the Sean Ellis case. Last week, I saw “City Hall” – long but well worth watching.

Little could I have predicted that a digital thermometer and a pulse oximeter would become my morning companions. Little could I have predicted how many times I would have gone to the beach – even for an hour in between calls - and enjoyed a swim.

Little could any of my generation have predicted that our greatest thanks at the end of the year would be that we did not get sick. Who could have predicted that our lives would be conducted via small screens? That is now how we work and how we stay in touch with family.

Of course, the lack of respect for the law of which Lincoln spoke in 1838 would be seen all the more openly shortly after his election in 1860 when southern states began to secede. The tragedy of the Civil War was significant.

100 years later almost exactly, some of the same lawlessness was evident when young students, black and white, sought to ride buses across state lines in the South in accordance with Supreme Court decisions, only to see their buses bombed, nonviolent young people beaten and churches surrounded by vigilantes. Perhaps it is not so different today, when vigilantes – even 17-year olds with assault rifles – cross state lines, seeking to supplant law enforcement and a self-proclaimed militia plot to kidnap a governor. There is no justification for local police to allow a vigilante to walk down a city street, taking the law in his own hands. There is absolutely no reason why the President of the United States should enable and empower and encourage such vigilante-ism in 2020, any more than when Lincoln spoke those words in 1838. 

What an extraordinary year to watch national politics. Just as Nero played his fiddle as Rome burned, Trump played golf as thousands of Americans died and millions relied on food pantries to feed their families. Books will be written as to the dynamics of the presidential election and the earthquake-like changes to a political system which has been around for hundreds of years. The new administration must focus on healing our nation, as well as paying our bills. Joe Biden’s challenge is to not follow those who Prof. Hersh calls the verbalist elite, but to govern from his heart, to pick up the pieces, remind us of our history, restore our pride and return an understanding of the laws of economics to our government. 

May our new leaders follow the message of Congressman John Lewis, speaking at the National Cathedral in 2008, when he referred to Martin Luther King’s having preached in that same church 40 years prior. He reminded us that King would have told us, were he still alive, “We are one people. We are one house. We are one family. It doesn’t matter, we have to find a way to live together. We have to find a way to understand each other. We have to find a way to make peace with each other.” Now that 2020 is behind us, will we find a way to make peace with each other in the new year?