Robert Scott

All writers in Op Ed are here to inform and acknowledge issues of importance to our communities, however these writings represent the views  and opinions of the authors and not necessarily of The Advertiser.

For those of us who attend liturgical churches, we are now in Advent Season – the Season of Hope. Advent is a time for reflection and introspection, but above all it is a season forlooking forward – forward to a future better than our past. Advent is both a season of repentance and a season of promise.

This year, the year of COVID-19, was one of gloom, one that saw far too many Americans die of a disease that was unknown outside of China a year ago. This week is seeing daily record numbers of cases of COVID-19 in South Carolina and record numbers of deaths. But the past week has given us more than enough reason to be hopeful, to anticipate a future much brighter, at least, than our recent past. Our nation and the world have developed a vaccine – several vaccines, as it turns out – that have been tested and have proven to be effective against this silent killer. The vaccine was approved for distribution this week in the United States, making us one of just a handful of nations so far to experience the new scientific miracle. The killer virus is still out there, and we will all need to continue to wear masks, to socially distance from one another, and to wash our hands many times every day – at least 20 seconds at a time. Such precautions will be needed for several more months, if we as a society are to reach that brighter future and to avoid hundreds of thousands of new deaths along the way. With the vaccines approved last weekend, there truly is a light at the end of the tunnel. We are still in the tunnel and we cannot forget that, but there is a light ahead.

Politically, Advent in the year 2020 is also a season for looking forward. As a math teacher, I noted this past weekend that we had reached the point of 39 elapsed days since the Presidential election, with 39 days to go until the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. This weekend saw a crescendo of court cases settled in which the outgoing administration and their allies – including our state Attorney General and all five Republican South CarolinaCongressmen – lost their final bid to overturn the will of the American voters. An unequivocal Supreme Court decision ruled that there is no basis for denying any of the states’ election commissions that have, collectively, certified 306 members of the Electoral College committed to voting for the Biden-Harristicket. Unsubstantiated allegations of fraud, every one of them denied by over 50 court decisions during those first 39 days, are hallmarks of an administration that sees as unfair the expressed will of eighty million people, a resounding majority of American voters. We can look ahead with hope past Advent and Christmas to the season of Epiphany. Epiphany is about bringing good news to the world, and the Presidential Inauguration will be a secular event entirely appropriate to the season.

Let us across Edgefield County agree this Advent season that today is the time of hope, and the recognize together the promise made to all that tomorrow will, indeed, be better than today.

Happy Advent!