Ending the year on this note

As the world continues to hurl toward a point in space that marks the demarcation between 2021 and 2022, a few final thoughts from this humble writer of this blog. More a look forward to 2022 and what would be nice to see, rather than rehashing the year that was, which turned out to be a modified version of the dumpster fire that was 2020.

• As we enter 2022, we will continue to see an increase in cases of COVID due to the Omicron variant. If projections hold, the numbers will reach new levels that we thought we would never see. One thing that will not help at this point is to do the same thing we did back in March of 2020 – shutting down the world and hoping it goes away. Covid is not going away.

• Talking about COVID not going away, if the virus were a person, country, or some other tangent entity, it is the one owning us rather than humanity owning it. After 20 to 21 months of this saga, the best humanity has been able to do is achieve a short cease-fire from the effects of the virus. And that is with all the mandates, proclamations, and listening to voices riding the talk circuit of doomsday telling us we need to lockdown. We will still be at war in 2022 with COVID, and it may be time to figure out if the generals that are in charge now trying to battle this need to be replaced with more competent strategists.

• Keep in mind politicians are already writing down their “investment” in the actions they took on the virus, knowing full well the venture didn’t yield the desired outcome – licking the virus and coming out looking like super leaders. Instead, the virus licked them, so they are now walking away from it. Anticipate higher-level politicians passing the buck to local leaders and moving on to other things in the new year.

• Moving from the virus to more traditional politics, elections that will determine the direction of this country will take place in 2022. Because of reapportionment, even more, people will be on the ballot than usual, all either trying to hold on to their seat, or someone new taking over. Both Democrats and Republicans are gearing up to tell us all that this is a once-in-a-lifetime election that will determine the country’s direction for generations to come. Keep in mind that the last election was touted at the same level. The results of that election (legislation passed, etc) have not lived up to the billing. This is something to think about when evaluating whom to vote for in 2022.

• Despite what you hear in the media, that Democratic control of Congress is in real trouble, hold off on placing your bet in the back allies of Honolulu’s Chinatown. The Democrats despite their penchant for shooting themselves in the foot in front of television cameras, do have a portfolio of accomplishments that they could take to the people, selling the idea of giving them yet another term to continue their work. Of course, the Republicans also have a sales pitch, but let’s see if that is more convincing. Either way, as a voter, check their records and determine for yourself who you want to be represented by.

• Focusing on more local (Hawaii) politics here, if you have not had a chance to watch the Hawaii News Now show “Campaign 2022: The First Conversation”, the author of this blog encourages you to. Two reasons why. First, a Native Hawaiian political pundit, Kehau Watson, joined the panel with political pundit stalwarts, Darryl Huff and Colin Moore. Second is the fact that this new pundit came up with some interesting viewpoints not explored before. Not to give away the story, watch the piece when you have a chance.

• And finally, issues of the quality of education, our mental health crisis, and society’s inability to lick social ills like homelessness and crime, will continue to be problems. Just because the media or the watercooler talk don’t bring up these topics does not mean they’ve been solved.

Aloha ʻOe 2021.