It sure is funny how a magazine that few of us read can generate so much controversy with their choice of who they put on the cover. But that is the year 2020. I would have normally brushed the choice aside and chalked it up to just another unfortunate story during a tough year. But I think it struck a chord in so many people, including myself because there was such an obvious choice. No one this year gets to be named 'Person of the Year' above our healthcare workers.

I think we generally take doctors and nurses for granted unless we're directly involved with them. When I fell and broke my back several years ago I got a first-hand look at just how great this group of people is. But unless you're seriously injured, or sick enough to be hospitalized, you go on living your life rarely seeing these medical professionals. But then the pandemic hit. A virus that proved to be deadly in some hit hard and fast, overwhelming the healthcare system, and this group of people who stood alone on the front lines ready to battle it.

We've all seen and heard stories. Making their own PPE until more arrived. Going home and not being able to hug their families, fearing they had the virus. Long hours watching people suffer and die, oftentimes being the last person holding a hand. Helping someone say goodbye because families aren't allowed in hospitals. Watching the virus ravage nursing homes and senior living facilities. Crying on their way to and from work, so they wouldn't tear up in front of their patients.

My wife Holly joined their ranks this year. She works for UnityPoint Labs. She visited many of those nursing homes. And she contracted COVID-19 doing her job. She recovered. But many in her profession didn't. They got sick and died trying to save you and me from a similar fate.

This is why the decision to name anyone else as a 'Person of the Year' is hollow. Despite all the other accomplishments of others this year, no one has done or continues to do more than our healthcare workers. We owe them our thanks, gratitude, and something even greater. Our lives. Put that on your cover.

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