Person of the Year?

Time Magazine, that venerable bastion of print journalism (Time Magazine debuted March 3, 1923 as the first weekly news magazine in the U.S.), has, since 1927, announced a “Person of the Year” (“Man of the Year” or “Woman of the Year” until 1999) in one of its December issues. Since 1998 Time has also held an online poll of readers to query who they think should be recognized, but the final decision remains that of the magazine’s editors.

Charles Lindbergh
Time Man of the Year 1927

The “Person of the Year” came about as a method for the magazine to overcome the oversight of not putting aviator Charles Lindbergh on one of its covers after his historic first trans-Atlantic flight in May 1927. The magazine thought an article on Lindbergh as “Man of the Year” would remedy that mistake. 

Who do you think should be 2020’s “Person of the Year”? The online poll features 80 nominated people or groups (groups have been recognized in at least 11 years, and inanimate objects twice - The Computer in 1982 and The Endangered Earth in 1988. 

Among the 80 nominations this year are folks like Dr. Anthony Fauci and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo along with as-you-might-expect people like Joe Biden, Donald Trump - Man of the Year in 2016, Kamala Harris, and Mike Pence. Group nominations include The Black Lives Matter movement. There’s also the usual mix of entertainers and sports figures along with some notable tech giants (Jeff Bazos/Amazon -who has already been recognized -  in 1999, Mark Zuckerberg/Facebook - recognized in 2010, and Zoom’s CEO Eric Yuan). Even royal couple Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were nominated. Do you remember who won in 2019, which seems such a lifetime ago? Greta Thunberg, the Swedish climate change activist, was selected by Time’s editors over “Hong Kong Protesters” which won in online polling.  

The annual announcement does not always celebrate good: Adolf Hitler was recognized in 1938 and Joseph Stalin made the cover not once but twice, in 1939 and 1942. Ayatollah Khomeini, who led the Iranian Revolution and was instrumental in the Iranian Hostage Crisis was recognized in 1979. Even Vladimir Putin, who has featured so prominently during the Trump years, made the editors choice in 2007. 

Rudolph Giuliani was featured on the cover in 2001 as epitomizing America’s response to the September 11th attacks. Few would have argued with that selection. Mr. Giuliani remains in the news having recently led the current President’s efforts to overturn the results of what appears, according to all reliable sources, to have been a fair and honest election contest. On Tuesday he called into a radio talk show program criticizing the widespread use of masks and social distancing  to prevent future outbreaks of COVID despite the fact that he himself remains hospitalized in a Washington D.C. hospital after testing positive for the virus. It is not anticipated that Mr. Giuliani will repeat his cover appearance this year.

So, how about it - who’s your choice to represent the year of the Pandemic? My vote mirrors the results in online polling - The Essential Worker - those doctors, nurses, delivery workers, public transit, and grocery store employees, who have played such critical roles in the year of COVID. Truly, where would we be without them? Even with their efforts, and through no fault of theirs, its anticipated that we, as Americans, will have lost more than 300,000 of our fellow citizens by Christmas. Maybe the Time editorial staff will simply pick COVID, the virus itself, for its cover this year. That would open the way for my potential pick for 2021 - the Vaccine. For this year we can all find out who they pick on December 10th when Time televises its first-ever “TIME Person of the Year” television special on NBC, on Dec. 10 at 10 p.m. ET. For a list of all those who have graced Time's Person of the Year covers click here.

Completely unrelated to anything so momentous as "Person of the Year", have you noticed how many more homes are being decorated for the holidays this year? Almost every house in my neighborhood lights up in a splendiforous light display the minute the sun sets. Most of my family's decorating takes place on the inside of our home as my wife brings out her collection of snowmans (snowmen?). To that end I share with you the following short film featuring just some of her collection of these wintry visitors. They don't last long, leaving behind only puddles and happy memories when they go so enjoy them while you can!