Obviously, this year has been defined by COVID-19, a highly contagious disease that has killed more than 300,000 Americans since March and forced most states to close at least for a time just about every venue that normally brings large numbers of people into a common air space: schools, churches, businesses and even national parks and beaches.
For a minute or two in March, it felt like this would be a collective experience we would all do our bit to help the cause, kind of like London during the Blitz. But that was a short-lived fantasy. A virus is a less tangible, if more deadly, foe than the German bombing campaign, and we had Trump instead of Churchill, and Twitter instead of those groovy “Keep Calm and Carry On” posters.