Soap Vet A Martinez Reflects on 2020: Looks for Light on Horizon

As 2020 comes to an end, soap veteran A Martinez, last seen as Eduardo Hernandez on Days of our Lives, is getting reflective about the year that was. On his Instagram page, the actor shared some poignant thoughts.

A Martinez Tells It Like It Is

“Saw a Walmart commercial this morning that instructed us to ‘End the year with what matters.’ Give–– and shop–– it said,” he wrote. “It ended on a shot of a large family (multi-generational, maskless, more than would be living in the same household) gathered in holiday joy. And I was struck again by the poignant tension that has defined this brutal year, as we struggle to function as an economy, and simultaneously to stay alive.”

The actor also posted a video of what he described as “a beautiful day” with a sliver of the moon shining in the distance. Yet, his message was much darker.

“Last week was COVID’s most deadly in America, breaking the record of the week before,” he continued. “And today–– December 16th–– more of us died than on any other single day in the whole of the siege. It’s a record that won’t survive, of course. Our new case count approached a quarter of a million–– on this single day–– and a shortage of nurses now looms in the shadows. As was predicted by the science, the second 200,000 American deaths is piling up a lot more quickly than the first.”

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Martinez shared that he’s been quarantining the past 14 days as COVID has played a heavy toll on people close to him, including one heartbreaking death.

“The sense of tragic waste in the whole sorry mess is almost overwhelming,” he wrote. “Having just returned from a country that chose to attack the virus with 1) honesty from leadership 2) ironclad shutdowns, tracing and quarantines 3) DIRECT, IMMEDIATE and UNIVERSAL FINANCIAL AID–– it is beyond clear that our own soaring death rate and descent of millions into poverty DID NOT HAVE TO HAPPEN.”

Like many of us, Martinez knows that the logistics of the upcoming vaccine distribution is paramount and it’s necessary for people to “roll up their sleeves” and do what they can to turn the tide on this deadly virus.

“We can hold out, instead, and hold on— mustering the discipline to continue to protect one another by keeping our distance,” Martinez wrote. “We will know that the Spirit of Giving is alive and well if we can give each other exactly that–– the pain of this endless year notwithstanding. Thanks to our refusal to capitulate in the face of gross recklessness and political madness, there remains–– miraculously–– bright and beautiful light on the horizon. Prayers up that we remember that, and stand strong.”