This should be peak planning season. In years gone by, we spent our winters beaverishly putting together plans of every shape and size. There’s the festive planning, of course—all that gifting and feasting entails logistical puzzles aplenty. Then in January comes the loftier business of planning for a whole new year: blocking out holidays and trips, dreaming up resolutions and goals as we strive to shape the months ahead before we’re swept up in the hustle and grind.
Not this year, though. On a practical level, planning for anything that’s more than a few weeks away remains pretty futile. Psychologically, after the hand that 2020 dealt the world, it’s hard not to feel a whisper of unease when eyeing that pristine new diary. Among the pandemic’s teachings is this: no matter how modern and secular our society, there remains ample truth in the old Yiddish proverb “Der mensch tracht, und Gott lacht”—man plans, and God laughs.