It would be so, so easy to lament all the bad things we’ve experienced in 2020, a year for the history and record books. As citizens of the world we’ve dealt collectively with COVID and shared the sickness and death it has wrought with the rest of humankind in every corner of the globe from Europe, to Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and yes, China. Only a few nations have not directly experienced COVID’s wrath, most of them island countries in the South Pacific (Palau, Micronesia, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Samoa for example) while Antarctica remains the only COVID-free continent on this, our little blue speck in the cosmos.
And how quickly the protests of spring and summer have faded from consciousness. There's seemingly more concern over the 5,700 fans allowed into the current incarnation of Mile High Stadium to watch the Broncos than there is for who's kneeling and for what.
My next door neighbor, Mike, is an Intensive Care Nurse at Denver General. He's one of those front-line heroes we celebrated months ago. Remember? He's well aware there's not a lot of civic howling anymore in support of these folks who's sole job is saving the lives of others. He was telling my wife this morning as he was going to work that as bad a picture as the media paints COVID, its far, far worse. He spoke of his hospital having a hard time simply staffing the ICU because folks on the front lines are getting burned out or, yes, dying from doing their job. Fewer and fewer people are available, or willing, to step up and fill the ranks of those we all depend on to stay alive. Our Governor is now talking about allowing hospitals to turn away patients if their ICU's are at capacity while at the same time county governments are saying they won't enforce the State's mask mandate or COVID-dial restrictions.
So, do you have anything to be thankful for this Thanksgiving? I'm thankful for simply being alive after spending my own four days in intensive care back in April and watching those critical care staff try to save my life. I'm thankful for my friends and family. They really are my better angels. My family is not getting together for our traditional Thanksgiving meal and I'm thankful that they respect the sanctity of each other's life more than a day spent putting those we love in harm's way.
Most of all perhaps, I'm thankful there is still beauty in this world and that I occasionally get to glimpse it. More than ever before in my life I find myself actively seeking it out. Sometimes - many times - its hard to find, especially in today's world. Sometimes it sneaks up on me when least expected, some days my conscious effort to seek it out is rewarded but either way its something no virus, no war or famine, no manmade catastrophe can steal from me.
With that in mind I share with you two of my recent efforts to find some of that beauty. Both took place in the Colorado High Country that I love so much. The first is a simple walk through the little town of Twin Lakes which is nestled at the base of Independence Pass. Perhaps you've been there in the summer when the warm wind rustles through the leaves of the quaking aspen trees. This time of year, the town is nearly deserted and at first glance might seem abandoned yet its in that peaceful solitude that I most find its beauty. The second is a hidden treasure called Mushroom Gulch. Near Buena Vista, its just a couple of miles off Highway 285 yet lightyears removed from the frenetic pace and sometime ugliness of the outside world. In its own special way it offers a chance to find the peaceful serenity that only the beauty of nature can provide. In the words of Henry David Thoreau,
"I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than the trees."
And not least of all, I'm also thankful for you as a reader of this blog. I wish you and yours a happy and safe Thanksgiving no matter how you choose to celebrate it this year.
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