This has been a year like no other, and moments of joy were difficult to come by. The few happy events that took place did so despite harrowing circumstances—or, in many cases, as a response to overwhelming adversity. Health-care workers took on enormous burdens, saved countless lives, and earned the gratitude and admiration of millions. Celebrations and public events were modified for safety, but many still took place. And new vaccines against COVID-19 are starting to roll out. I have made it an annual tradition, after rounding up the often painful “news photos of the year,” to compose an essay of uplifting images from the past 12 months—an effort to seek out and recognize some of the abundant joy and kindness present in the world around us, even in the midst of a truly awful year. The following are images from the past year of personal victories, families and friends at play, expressions of love and compassion, volunteers at work, or simply small and pleasant moments.
Hopeful Images From 2020
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Margaret Keenan, 90, is applauded by staff as she returns to her ward at University Hospital after becoming the first person in Britain to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine outside of a clinical trial, at the start of the largest-ever immunization program in British history, in Coventry, England, on December 8, 2020. #
Jacob King via Reuters -
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Maria Sole, age 4, dressed in a nurse's outfit, holds up a rainbow drawing with the words "Thank You" on it as NHS staff and members of the public took part in the weekly "Clap for Our Carers" event at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital on May 28, 2020, in London. #
Dan Kitwood / Getty -
Nurses and health-care workers make heart gestures in celebration of National Nurses Week and International Nurses Day outside Mount Sinai Oueens, in the New York City borough, on May 12, 2020. #
Angela Weiss / AFP / Getty -
Dr. Lucia Ledesma, a clinical neuropsychologist, gazes into the eyes of Harley, a therapy dog who provides emotional support for health-care workers who are treating patients infected with the new coronavirus, while he rests on his bed in Mexico City on September 12, 2020. #
Marco Ugarte / AP -
The Uruguayan cellist Karina Núñez performs for her neighbors on the balcony of her apartment during the coronavirus outbreak in Panama City, Panama, on March 20, 2020. #
Erick Marciscano / Reuters -
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Members of the Tempero de Criola band perform amid the coronavirus pandemic at the Turano favela, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on June 19, 2020. The group of musicians playing samba offered a small concert to the residents of the Turano favela, most of whom were quarantined to curb the spread of COVID-19. #
Silvia Izquierdo / AP -
Rhiannon Navin, a coronavirus-crisis volunteer, greets local residents arriving at a food-distribution center at the WestCOP community center in New Rochelle, New York, on March 18, 2020. #
John Moore / Getty -
A volunteer named Jawad Javed delivers coronavirus protection kits that he and his wife put together for the vulnerable people of their community in Stenhousemuir, between Glasgow and Edinburgh, in Scotland, on March 16, 2020. #
Andy Buchanan / Digital / AFP / Getty -
Paulino Perez (right) hugs his brother Isaias Perez Yanez, as Isaias is released from Sharp Coronado Hospital after battling COVID-19 for five weeks in Coronado, California, on May 8, 2020. Nurses, doctors and other staff members lined the hallways to celebrate Isaias' recovery as he was wheeled out of the hospital to reunite with his family. #
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A seal took several tourists by surprise by hitching a ride on their stand-up boards off the beach in Weymouth, England, on August 13, 2020. The seal, known by many locals as Sammy, has become a regular sight in Dorset, where volunteers occasionally check on him. The animals are usually known for being elusive, but Sammy is known to approach people on the beach and catch the occasional ride on a paddle board. #
Finnbarr Webster / Getty -
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People roller-skate during a pop-up roller skating session in Brooklyn on September 5, 2020. Outdoor roller-skating saw a rise in popularity after restrictions on indoor activities were placed because of the coronavirus outbreak. #
Stephanie Keith / Getty -
Mark Ingram II of the Baltimore Ravens hugs his daughters before the AFC Divisional Playoff game against the Tennessee Titans at M&T Bank Stadium on January 11, 2020, in Baltimore, Maryland. #
Maddie Meyer / Getty -
Findik, the canine mascot of Kayacik Martyr Haluk Yilmaz Primary School in Tokay, Turkey, sits with desk mates during class on January 16, 2020. Findik was found at a cemetery in the Turhal district of Tokat and brought to the school nearby to become its 39th student. #
Mehmet Kumcagiz / Anadolu / Getty -
John Sileo, a Wantagh High School Class of 2020 co-president, poses in front of a sign on the grass as graduating seniors from the school drive by the front of the building and their teachers cheer for them on May 15, 2020, in Wantagh, New York. #
Al Bello / Getty -
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A couple share a kiss at the "Purple Rain" installation at the Lycée Jacques-Decour on August 2, 2020, in Paris, France. Part of Festival Paris l'Eté, the installation by Pierre Ardouvin is a tribute to the song by Prince and allows visitors to role-play while equipped with umbrellas, accompanied by the song. #
Kiran Ridley / Getty -
Children look at lights from inside their family car as they visit Luminna Fest, a drive-through Christmas-light festival, in São Paulo, Brazil, on December 5, 2020. #
Amanda Perobelli / Reuters -
Cristina Marino, a health-care worker at the Juan Ramon Jimenez Hospital in Huelva, and coordinator of the El Burrito Feliz (The Happy Donkey) association, hugs a donkey named Magallanes in Hinojos, Spain, on September 8, 2020, as part of a donkey-therapy program. Created by Luis Manuel Bejarano, the emotional therapy is being used to treat the stress of health-care workers who have been dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. #
Cristina Quicler / AFP / Getty -
Rita Nunes, a bride, is seen on her wedding day, after having to cancel the event previously because of local shutdowns, posing in the autumn sunlight for a wedding photographer in Dublin, Ireland, on October 14, 2020. #
Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters -
Linda Delk (right) puts a ring on the finger of Ardell Hoveskeland as Pastor Sarah Scherschligt looks on during their socially distanced wedding, which family and friends joined over Zoom, at the Peace Lutheran Church in Alexandria, Virginia. "You may remove your mask and kiss the bride." The two septuagenarians, who met at the start of the pandemic, were wed on May 28, 2020. "Normally we would still be dating," said Linda, with her hand held by Ardell. But the coronavirus outbreak accelerated everything. #
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP / Getty -
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An orphan plays with her new Hula-Hoop during a food-and-toy-distribution event for about 500 orphans in 11 orphanages, conducted by the National Muslim COVID-19 Response Committee, to celebrate Eid al-Fitr at the Good Hope Markazil Banatil Islamia Orphans Center in Nairobi, Kenya, on May 25, 2020. #
Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP / Getty -
Fans watch from their numbered seats as the German band Brings performs onstage during the Bonn Live Kulturgarten Open-Air Festival 2020, at Rheinaue Leisure Park in Bonn, Germany, on July 17, 2020. Kulturgarten was Europe's first open-air music festival held since the restrictions of the coronavirus pandemic. #
Andreas Rentz / Getty -
A helper holds a small fawn found on May 19, 2020 in the grass of a meadow near the small Bavarian village of Oberacker outside Stuttgart, Germany. Before the farmers' meadows are mown these days, helpers try to find any fawns hiding in the grass. Immediately after the meadows are mowed, the animals are released so that the mothers can find them again. #
Christof Stache / AFP / Getty -
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Inas, a student who is blind, embraces Soul during a dog-assisted therapy session at Escola Iris in Sant Vicenc dels Horts, during the coronavirus pandemic near Barcelona, Spain, on November 25, 2020. #
Albert Gea / Reuters -
The Neonatal nurse Kirsty Hartley carries premature baby Theo Anderson to his mother, Kirsty Anderson, in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Lancashire Women and Newborn Center at Burnley General Hospital in East Lancashire, Burnley, England, on May 15, 2020. #
Hannah Mckay / Reuters -
Room lights from the Manchester Grand Hyatt hotel form a heart in San Diego, California, on April 16, 2020. Landmarks and buildings across the nation displayed blue lights to show support for health-care workers and first responders on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. #
Daniel Knighton / Getty -
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A worker holds a bottle of the new Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, as the mass public-vaccination program gets under way at Southmead Hospital in Bristol, England, on December 8, 2020. #
Graeme Robertson via AP
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