Cautious optimism for 2021
After a horrible year, we are still standing


This is the editor's letter in the current issue of The Week magazine.
In this space a year ago, I admitted to a pessimistic feeling about 2020. If President Trump loses an election that will be "the ugliest of our lifetimes," I said, he will "denounce the results as a fraudulent coup" and refuse to accept them. This forecast required no prescience: Donald Trump has cried "fraud" after every election whose results he didn't like, including the 2016 Iowa primary that he insisted should be "nullified" because Ted Cruz had "stolen" it. But while an election fiasco was utterly predictable, my crystal ball failed to foresee the defining catastrophe of the coming year. At this time last December, a virus was silently jumping from person to person in Wuhan, China, and would soon radically transform every one of our lives.
"Never make predictions," the great sage Casey Stengel reminded us, "especially about the future." Still, there is reason for cautious optimism for 2021. Democracy has survived, although with open wounds which will not quickly heal. Vaccination has begun after less than a year of development and testing — a nearly miraculous achievement. Life may return to a semblance of normal by summer; how incredibly sweet it will be to gather again with family, friends, and co-workers. Even now, with that rebirth too far away and our terrible losses still mounting, we can find a space for gratitude. The list of people who've earned it is long: The brilliant scientists who made the vaccines possible. The doctors, nurses, and other health-care workers who've defied their exhaustion, fear, and heartbreak to save lives and comfort the dying. The post office workers, delivery people, teachers, meat-packers, farmworkers, cops, EMTs, supermarket cashiers, cooks, and other frontline workers who've risked their lives to keep us fed and supplied and the country functioning. It's been a truly horrible year, with one painful blow after another. But we're still standing, so let's give ourselves a round of applause.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
William Falk is editor-in-chief of The Week, and has held that role since the magazine's first issue in 2001. He has previously been a reporter, columnist, and editor at the Gannett Westchester Newspapers and at Newsday, where he was part of two reporting teams that won Pulitzer Prizes.
-
Nepal chooses toddler as its new ‘living goddess’
Under the Radar Girls between two and four are typically chosen to live inside the temple as the Kumari – until puberty strikes
-
October 5 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include half-truth hucksters, Capitol lockdown, and more
-
Jaguar Land Rover’s cyber bailout
Talking Point Should the government do more to protect business from the ‘cyber shockwave’?
-
Russia is ‘helping China’ prepare for an invasion of Taiwan
In the Spotlight Russia is reportedly allowing China access to military training
-
Interpol arrests hundreds in Africa-wide sextortion crackdown
IN THE SPOTLIGHT A series of stings disrupts major cybercrime operations as law enforcement estimates millions in losses from schemes designed to prey on lonely users
-
China is silently expanding its influence in American cities
Under the Radar New York City and San Francisco, among others, have reportedly been targeted
-
How China uses 'dark fleets' to circumvent trade sanctions
The Explainer The fleets are used to smuggle goods like oil and fish
-
One year after mass protests, why are Kenyans taking to the streets again?
today's big question More than 60 protesters died during demonstrations in 2024
-
What happens if tensions between India and Pakistan boil over?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION As the two nuclear-armed neighbors rattle their sabers in the wake of a terrorist attack on the contested Kashmir region, experts worry that the worst might be yet to come
-
Why Russia removed the Taliban's terrorist designation
The Explainer Russia had designated the Taliban as a terrorist group over 20 years ago
-
Inside the Israel-Turkey geopolitical dance across Syria
THE EXPLAINER As Syria struggles in the wake of the Assad regime's collapse, its neighbors are carefully coordinating to avoid potential military confrontations