We couldn’t wait to kick 2020 to the curb, and indeed it was a rotten year in many respects. The pandemic brought illness and worse to the old and vulnerable.

For the rest of us, it was a year of prohibitions: on going out to eat, on walking around the Lake, on attending church, on celebrating holidays and going anywhere without a mask. As if that weren’t enough (and it never is), they added insult to injury by banning plastic utensils and straws!

But I’m here to tell you that, just as no human being is all bad, even the worst years have redeeming qualities.

Herewith, in no particular order, is my (very) short list of reasons to lighten up on 2020.

Since March, all public board meetings have been conducted remotely via Zoom. Now citizens are able to avoid attending these meetings from the comfort of their own homes!

In early April, some local residents organized a vehicle parade to thank first responders for all that they do. That afternoon, a long line of cars and trucks drove past the police and fire stations with horns blaring and flags waving before heading for the DPW and Light Department facilities. It was a great way to show that the vast majority of people do respect and appreciate the police and all that they and other first responders do.

In June, Town Meeting voters overwhelmingly showed their support for law enforcement when they approved a $9.6 million upgrade to the police side of the Public Safety Building.

Traditional Memorial Day observances were not held due to the pandemic. But that didn’t stop people from gathering to place flags on the graves of veterans at Forest Glade Cemetery that weekend.

On Nov. 11, a small, solemn Veterans Day observance was held in front of the World War II Memorial. Due to COVID restrictions, the brief ceremony was staged mainly for WCAT’s video cameras, but the Veterans Advisory Board was not about to let the day go unobserved. WCAT played the video throughout the day on TV and online.

Similarly, on Dec. 19, a small group of volunteers under the guidance of the Veterans Advisory Board and the DPW placed wreaths on the graves of veterans at Forest Glade Cemetery. While the event couldn’t be advertised due to the pandemic, Wakefield never forgets its veterans.

Another bright spot to the 2020 calendar was Friday, July 27. That was the day that Middlesex Superior Court Judge Jackie Cowin rejected amateur attorney Bob Mitchell’s attempt to use the courts to derail the Public Safety Building upgrade that had passed overwhelmingly at Town Meeting. After listening to the arguments in a Zoom hearing, Judge Cowin needed less that an hour to prepare and issue her denial of the frivolous lawsuit.

On July 8, the old Winship Mansion on the West Side finally met the wrecking ball. A lot of Monday morning preservationists were wringing their hands on social media over the loss of this “historic” building, and maybe it could have been saved if youthful revelers hadn’t stolen everything that wasn’t nailed down and trashed what was left. Sad as it was, neighbors and the police shed no tears when the wrecking
ball arrived.

2020 also gave us the Youth Council. So, we can finally, like, get some totally amazing and awesome things done, like getting rid of the Warrior logo because it’s, like, totally racist and stuff.

My final item closes the loop on this list, which I began by pointing out that Zoom allows people to ignore meetings of local boards from the comfort of their own homes. Members of the Wakefield Human Rights Commission would come to wish that no one saw their subcommittee meeting of May 7. And under normal circumstances, no one would have witnessed how the Hate-Has-No-Home-Here crowd thinks and speaks about their fellow citizens when they believe no one is watching. But in 2020 and thanks to Zoom, the cream of the woke crowd was exposed as they cruelly mocked a prominent local official who didn’t fit into their own peculiar stereotypes. Four WHRC members resigned as a result.

So, fare thee well, 2020. You weren’t all bad.
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[This column originally appeared in the January 7, 2021 Wakefield Daily Item.]