2020 may have started with a bang, but three months into the year, the COVID-19 turned that bang into silence. With citizens ordered to stay at home, airports, like the pictured General Mitchell International in Milwaukee, were completely empty for the first time in history.

Along with empty empty cities came plummeting gas prices. In April 2020, gas prices reached an all-time low, with a gallon sometimes costing less than $1.

Schools, too, were deserted. The pictured elementary school near UW-Milwaukee, like schools across the country, forced staff and students alike to stay home and adapt to a new learning environment.

But while schools and city streets were devoid of life, protesters filled them as often as they could. Following the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota, people across the country held protests for similar shootings, including one following a shooting at Mayfair Mall outside of Milwaukee in late 2020.

Because of these protests, and the COVID-19 pandemic, many people decided to purchase firearms. The FBI completed record amounts of firearm background checks each month in 2020, and many of those checks were done on people who had never held a gun before the year started.

The increase in violence in the streets of America, when coupled with COVID-19 restrictions, forced many businesses to either close or limit the amount of customers who could enter at any given time.

However, among all the bad there was a sliver of good in 2020: reduced travel times. A commute that traditionally took 30 minutes could often be completed in half that time as people worked from home instead of heading into major cities.

Instead of heading into the city, many people enjoyed some of America's great outdoor parks throughout the year. Parking lots of hiking trails could often be seen packed, and the trails were equally full of people eager to get outside.

Then the election came. In November 2020, Donald Trump ran against Joe Biden, a race Biden ultimately one, but the political tensions caused by the election persisted across the country for months.

All of this happened while small businesses struggled to make ends meet. Industries that rely heavily on in-person gatherings fared the worst, and many movie theaters and restaurants closed for good in 2020.

However, police departments across the country stayed busy. Although many of the year's protests remained peaceful, in places like Kensoha, Seattle, Milwaukee and Minneapolis, protests often turned violent as police and protesters fought one another.

This, along with the election, caused many people to lose faith in "The American Dream", a faith that was hard to restore because of high unemployment and a lack of social welfare for much of the year.

However, those that could tried to help their communities. Volunteering, and specifically community cleanups, became incredibly popular as people looked for ways to help one another and stay socially-distanced outside.

But the good that people did in their communities was often offset by the ongoing protests caused by officer-involved shootings throughout the year. As protests turned violent and damaged cities, the majority of Americans lost faith in the police according to a Gallup Poll.

People voiced their opinions, though, as plenty of Americans still voted in the 2020 election despite pandemic-era restrictions.

Which, when combined with community events, meant that a new era of Americana started in 2020. Although the days of being 'proud to be an American' may be gone, people still showed their pride and came together whenever possible.

Which is something that, after 300,000 Americans died, will hopefully help people continue to survive in these unprecedented times.