2021

2021 was an interesting year, to put it mildly. Here are some of the highlights and lowlights:

  1. People bravely decided to protest against the installation of Joe Biden as president, and a ceaseless torrent of vicious, relentless, and defamatory insults – not to mention unjust criminal charges – promptly began, not only towards the protesters but also towards all people who share the protesters’ ideology.
  2. Biden took office and proceeded to enact one horrible, authoritarian policy after another, accompanied by horrible, authoritarian rhetoric more appropriate for a totalitarian dictator than a president of the United States.
  3. Covid continued, and so did authoritarian policies intended to mitigate it. People were told that the rollout of the covid vaccine would mean a return to normal, but it instead led to increasingly authoritarian policies coercing, requiring, and forcing people to get the vaccine, which is the antithesis of a return to normal.
  4. The vicious, senseless, and bigoted war on beautiful statues and monuments continued.
  5. I lost several family members, including an aunt, grandfather, great aunt, and great uncle.
  6. My cousin (age 31) learned that he had brain cancer.
  7. I made the difficult decision to leave a job at a company that I loved.
  8. I ended relationships with several people because their political beliefs were too different from mine. Previously, I have never really taken people’s political beliefs into account when deciding whether or not to be friends with them, but the assaults on historical figures and bodily autonomy have made political issues become quite personal for me, and I was no longer willing to stifle myself and pretend that everything was fine while people openly advocated for the destruction of everything that makes my life worth living.
  9. I gained more confidence in speaking out about my beliefs.
  10. I was ridiculed and called a racist, a white supremacist, an idiot, and a disgusting person because I spoke out about my beliefs.
  11. I started an awesome new job at an awesome company.
  12. The American people began to wake up and to fight back against authoritarianism, via lawsuits, protests, and the now ubiquitous “Let’s Go Brandon.”
  13. At least one statue of Christopher Columbus and several modest Confederate statues were erected in various locations around the country.
  14. I ordered my very own statue of Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, which will be arriving sometime this year.
  15. I attended a protest against vaccine mandates.
  16. I attended a protest against getting rid of Columbus statues and Columbus Day.
  17. I met a variety of new, like-minded people from all different walks of life.
  18. A halfway decent person was elected governor of Virginia, in something of a rebuke of the despicable statue genocide that took place in that state.
  19. Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted, handing a rare defeat to the intolerant, politically correct bullies. 
  20. While going through drawings and writings from my childhood, I had an epiphany about the true purpose of my life. More on that will follow over the course of the year.

2020 and 2021 were by far the most difficult – and at many points, demoralizing – years of my life. However, in the second half of 2021 there have been a few glimmers of hope. Here’s hoping that 2022 is a better year. It is hard to imagine how it could possibly be worse.