Nearly 20 years ago a pastor told our congregation that a layoff was a time in which one could learn, and should not be wasted. That was the 2000-2002 "Dot-Bomb" here in Silicon Valley.
2020 has ups and downs for me and my family (omitting details like locations, names of employers, dates, and sexes, for the obvious DU-Haters reason):
Two of our kids are on Covid-furlough, two family members have been work-at-home, and I was on partial w-a-h for 2 1/2 months.
Our kid who attends university in China had come for a visit during semester break and New Year holiday. And courtesy of Covid, is still here. The university in China did live online classes for the spring semester. Toward the end of that semester (s)he realized (s)he is close to having an AA degree four our local JC and took summer classes toward that goal. More recently (s)he learned, unofficially, that the Chinese university will be asking foreign students to take a gap year. So I guess (s)he'll be earning that AA degree while here. For my wife and I, that means we've had him/her with us longer than the sum total for the previous 5 years.
Another of our kids volunteers some with a non-profit that catches feral cats, spaying/neutering those too wild to be socialized, and socializing and finding homes for those that can. (S)He misses that a lot.
For me, most local running event organizers have been shut down since March, with a couple doing a few "virtual" events. And the gym where I do both cardio and weight work-outs is shut down. So I've been doing what I can of both at home and out on local trails.
Our church has been doing online-only services and home groups, not what we'd like to be able to do. Our church has a fair number of seniors (I guess I qualify as that), so they are not among the congregations in CA demanding that the government end the shutdown of churches.
So, lots of changes for for us, adjustments we'd rather not have to make. But we're adjusting and seeing God's faithfulness through it all. Strength of character is not developed during easy times, it's developed and grows during times it's needed.
Politics are not central in my life and thinking. I think a Trump victory will be vastly better for the US than a Biden victory, but that is something far from what I can control. Mental energy expended on worrying about what I cannot control or even much influence is time and energy wasted.
