2020 is finally over. Get. In. The. Bin. To brazenly steal a joke that I saw on Twitter this morning: remember that 12 short months ago, we all had a different answer to the question "what was the worst year of your life?"
As the year from hell draws to a close, let's try to be positive. There were some good moments after all. Remember when the North didn't have a government for ages and accidentally legalised same-sex marriage as a result? That was great: it was both good because LGBTQ+ people should have the same rights as everyone else, and also because it was the most Norn Iron way for it to happen, in that it involved a pile of bigots trying to make a vain point about something or other and inadvertently making the absolute opposite of what they want to happen, happen.
For those who don't remember the incident, here it is. Same-sex marriage has been legal in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland since 2014, but never in Northern Ireland because, despite all the other parties and a solid majority of the public supporting it, the DUP continually tanked any motion to pass it using an arcane part of the political system that definitely wasn't designed to apply to legislation like same-sex marriage. Then, Northern Ireland's government didn't exist for years because see above, re: arcane nonsense and the Brits decided to just legislate same-sex marriage in on their behalf - and the DUP couldn't get their act together to torpedo it again. It was hubris of the highest order, and utterly hilarious.
Positive notes part two: there was the wee boy, Adam King, on the Toy Show who invented the "virtual hug" to greet Ireland's nicest hospital porter and charmed us all by saying, as all wee boys should, that he wanted to be work at NASA when he grew up. That was all very cute to start with, but then got actually teary when NASA themselves responded to the video with an actual bloody astronaut appearing on the Late Late Show to speak to Adam. Then the Taoiseach even sent him a letter telling him what an inspiration he was to everyone, which was totally a PR move but also totally true.
Round three has to go to our charity giving. We were named the most generous nation on Earth by GoFundMe, and some of our stories were unbelievable. A family in Laois raised €3.3 million to help their son fight Spinal Muscular Atrophy, only to find out that he couldn't have the treatment he needed: so they donated their funds to that of a girl in Donegal who had the same condition. Then there were the countless small acts of kindness: the Dublin granny who knitted Christmas decorations for the lonely, the nurse painting COVID-themed portraits to raise money for healthcare staff and even the family raffling their house in Kilkenny to fund their child's surgery. Oh, and that was just in the last month. There's plenty to be positive about here - you just have to look for it.
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Ireland
