Good riddance.

That was on the minds of many last weekend as they ushered out 2021 and welcomed in 2022.

In a world turned upside down and inside out by COVID-19 concerns that washed over from 2020 into 2021, many wondered if the disease would ever leave us alone.

As the coronavirus’s latest variant, omicron, ramped up even higher at year’s end, it left many of us feeling tired, depressed, and frustrated yet again as we ushered out one year and welcomed in another.

If you were not a fan of 2021, you weren’t alone. In a recent Rasmussen Reports study, 48% of those polled rated this past year as “poor.” Only 2% labeled it “the best year ever,” and I would be real curious to know what triggered that response from them. Certainly getting married or having a baby would qualify, but I can think of little else from last year to earn it that distinction.

Last year at this time, I believed the promise of a vaccine might be the great hope that would help restore the world back to normal. The vaccine came, and, yes, it has helped for those who have gotten it, but, until much more of the population is vaccinated, it leaves significant numbers of the world’s population at risk.

And even those vaccinated can still get the disease.

So pardon me if I’m not necessarily jumping up for joy yet about the promise of 2022.

But neither should I be cynical. The beauty of a new year is that, no matter how bad the previous one, there comes new hope.

Just ask Noah, of Noah and the Ark fame. Noah knew a thing or two about a bad year. While his year certainly was a hundred times better than anyone else’s in the world at that point, I wouldn’t call being cooped up with his family in a boat – along with thousands of animals – a great time.

I can’t imagine that being a pretty picture after a few days, let alone several months.

Thus, it’s easy to picture Noah’s eagerness after nearly a year at sea to get out of the boat and onto dry land. He sent out a dove in search of dry land, but, after seven days, the dove returned to the ark. Days later, Noah patiently would send the dove out again, and, that time, it returned with an olive leaf in its beak. Noah thus knew that dry land could not be that far away.

Will 2022 be the year we find our “dry land,” so to speak?

It is that way of thinking that I am choosing to embrace this year.

Let’s hope that 2022 is the year that COVID-19 is swept off the front pages and into the history books. Let’s believe that, together, we can still make a difference in the lives of our communities. Let’s work hard to give our children normal growing-up experiences and ourselves more happy moments.

Let’s work hard to replace negativity with positivity.

Will you join me in that effort?

Bill Speer recently retired as the publisher and editor of The News. He can be reached at bspeer@thealpenanews.com.