I was hoping to write an upbeat column to kick off the new year, something about how all sorts of things in our great country are bound to get better in the months ahead, a column based at least as much on wishful thinking as hard-nosed reality. A columnist can get away with that kind of fluff this time of year. But it’s hard to be cheery when our nation is in the throes of a full-blown epidemic, one that is causing so much pain to millions and millions of our fellow Americans.