Looking for a Sign

Abstract

So, this November editorial marks the end (or not even the end) of another year of chaos and loss, unrelenting change, and ambiguity.

It has been a struggle, in some ways, more than the previous year. We have had to deal with the pandemic numbers climbing, the indecisive leadership, the loss of colleagues and family members, the loss of jobs, more work and more barriers to getting that work done, stress and incivility, and on and on. Colleagues have experienced fear for their children. There are children (and adults) who are afraid to go out in public, afraid they may contract the virus or pass it on with disastrous results. Colleagues are experiencing combative students in the classroom who call them out for wearing a mask. Through it all is the uncertainty—of the future, the economy, having a job (still! Not just due to COVID but to changes in leadership and to political maneuvering).

It sometimes gets to be too much.

Then I saw a sign.

Literally.