Give Us a Year of the Ox

 Happy New Year, y’all. Xīnnián kuàilè.

Friday is Chinese New Year. I know this because I teach English classes online to Chinese kids, so it behooves me to have some basic knowledge of the culture and traditions. This is the Chinese equivalent to our December-long Christmas extravaganza. They have a month-long winter holiday to celebrate. They eat dumplings and wear red and hang lanterns and shoot fireworks and open red envelopes stuffed with money from their grandparents.

And family comes to town. A lot of people travel during these few weeks in China. At least they did before 2020.

It was right before Chinese New Year last year that coronavirus exploded in China and everything in their world came to a dramatic halt. No New Year’s. No family reunions. No community celebrations. The kids didn’t go back to school for months. I was waking up at 5am to teach my sweet BaoBaos (who, on the other side of the world, were having their lessons with me right before bed) and seeing their miserable faces on my computer screen. Restless from being inside for days on end. Strained from the stress and exhaustion of online school. Terrified of the monster lying outside their front doors that nobody seemed to really understand. It hurt my heart.

And at that time, I never dreamed that monster would cross the ocean to our doors. But here we are.

The Year of the Rat is ending. That’s what 2020 was in the Chinese lunar calendar: the Year of the Rat. Quite appropriate, don’t you think? Rats carry disease. Rats destroy things. 2020 was the rattiest of all the years I have experienced to date.

And what’s next? The Year of the Ox.

For the Chinese, the ox personality is strong and dependable. These folks work hard. Hook them up to a plow, and they plow that soil, gosh darn it. They may go slow – they may step cautiously and look carefully – but they keep going. Yes, they might be stubborn. They may not be pretty boys. But they are stable and solid and reliable. They get the job done, people.

There is so much healing to be done in 2021, friends. So much to re-build. So much ground to plow. There are businesses going under. There are students behind academically. There are people struggling with mental illnesses. There is anger and mistrust at and in our government. There are racial divides. There are family divides. There is work to be done.

Lord, kick that stinkin’ rat out the door. Give us a year of the OX. Hoo-yah.