The star of 2020.

 

 The star of 2020.

 

The year 2020 will be remembered in history as a time that the world changed. We remember the year 1 as the year of the birth of our Lord. Those who lived in that year remembered it as the year of the big star, which later became known as the star of Beit Lechem.

Beit Lechem (House of bread) was a tiny hamlet within walking distance from Jerusalem, itself an insignificant capital city of a strange little nation that worshipped one invisible God. In it was a temple with priests offering ritual sacrifices, and artworks that strangely didn’t include any reference to the physical attributes of that God. All other religions at the time had statues of Gods. The one visible sign in the temple was a light that always burned, called the eternal flame. There were people in Babylon who maintained a fire in a Zoroastrian temple and before that an Egyptian religion where God was simply “light” Ra was its name. There is a pyramid for Ra.

The star which led the three Magi (wise men) from Persia to Judea is really a conjunction of two bright planets visible from earth, and it’s very rare. The last one happened in the year 1226 before the death of the Catholic Saint Francis of Assisi. He changed the church, bringing it back to the Christian ideal of helping the poor and revering nature, instead of being money and power-oriented.

This year 2020, on December 21st, the Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn will line up and one brilliant light will be visible for about an hour in the South-West sky above the horizon. We, mountain people, may have to find a vantage point to see the historic phenomenon. (Perhaps from the parking lot of The Interpretive Centre.)  Depending upon interpretation, it should be visible for about five days before or after the winter solstice. It is three days after the Jewish holiday Hanukkah and three days before the Christian Christmas.

2020 will be remembered for many things. It is the first time that a sitting president of the USA is trying to challenge the democratic system of the Union, risking turmoil or even civil war. Also, that president was impeached and continued serving.  It is a year in which oil price-wars demolished economies around the world with low prices. 2020 saw some of the worst bush and forest fires, especially in California and Australia. Social rebellion and demonstrations achieved new levels, with the Black Lives Matter being the largest ever. A none white woman was elected to be US Vice President.  Canada suffered large demonstrations of First Nations protesting the government and corporations deciding who leads the aboriginal nations and make deals on their behalf. The gap between rich corporations, small businesses, and wage earners continued to grow at an alarming rate. The crucial event was and is COVID-19 arriving in the west soon after the year started.

It was politicized almost from the get-go with the political Left wanting to follow scientific and medical advice to reduce transmission and the political Right denying its severity, wanting to keep the economy from being set back.

Some countries in the far east and south took appropriate measures and controlled the spread of the virus to some great degree. They are now at the end of the year, mostly back to normal. They also suffered a minimal number of cases and only a few deaths. The richer countries were more worried about their economies and experienced more severe outcomes. Others ignored the threat and suffered a lot.

The virus attacked randomly but killed more people from the older generation and spread faster where more people live or work close to each other. In short order, the infected populations exhausted their ability to look after the sick or even deal with dead people.

Here in Alberta, an early short-term shutdown took the edge off the spread for a while, but forces beyond our control worked against us. The internet was effectively used to spread conspiracy theories claiming that there is no real threat, and the virus is a hoax. Being a strong right-wing society, many people chose to not follow the warnings and enjoy life as if there is no problem at all. The threat to older people didn’t motivate many younger folks to be cautious, and large numbers infected each other very fast.

As December arrived, the government was left with two choices. Do nothing and be like the US or shut down. Shutting down for the Christmas period was the worst time for little businesses and all Alberta’s working people and the faith communities. Now people face personal economic devastation unless the government steps in with serious monetary aid. Not taking action when there was time was the most costly choice.

The government tried to blame the advice of the chief medical officer, a woman named Dr. Hinshaw, but recordings leaked of her giving advice that may not have been followed. A political disaster that can’t be hushed left us scared and at each other’s throats.

Humans will survive the year 2020, but what happened once could happen again or things can change and improve above what we can imagine. There is a star bringing a feeling of hope. We could blame China or a smart lady Doctor, or we could replace peoples’ losses and wages as Japan, Norway, Germany, France, England, and Italy do. (80% - 100%.) It is up to us.

What do I wish for O Lord? A world where no child, white, yellow, brown, red, or any colour will suffer. There is no child who through selfishness and greed caused our problems. Let them not suffer for our mistakes.

Overall, I see that 2020 has been good to teach us things we must learn. The star of Christmas may be a sign in the heavens that a change for the good is coming.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.