365 days; 52,000 wildfires; and 2.16 million lives ago, the world was just beginning its descent from the zenith of hope and optimism that always comes with the holiday season. The adhesive on the back of the torn off calendar page of December was still glossy and fresh when suddenly the earth stumbled on its axis, hurling everyone and everything on it into a whirlwind of madness.
When looked at concisely, the year more closely resembled a deranged game of Mad Libs than a real and tangible period, bringing with each successive month, like a horde of unwelcomed suitors, a new and unique problem which we struggled to mitigate. Now, after a year within the inferno, the once sweet and soft air now reeks of disillusionment. We stand in the rubble of a storm that took everything, and tend to our gaping wounds all the while wondering what comes next.
In the event in which everything does return to the “old”normal, or the closest thing to it, how will this whole experience shape our greater future. Will we continue going about our deferred path undisturbed? Or will we gaze down upon a new and changed world after traversing this mountain? For a fierce and fervent part of the nation, the latter of the two prospects is more desirable for among them, is a shared sentiment that the horrors we witnessed in 2020, in actuality, were just the repulsive reflections of our own current reality.
Terms such as “pandemic,” “environmental catastrophe,” and “racial reckoning” have previously graced the pages of our nation’s history books. As they once again came to a head last year, the nation as a whole was reminded of how little things have changed. How inadequate our healthcare systems still are; how willfully oblivious we are to the effects of climate change; how justice still escapes those in positions of power and influence.
Now that we’ve gazed into the abyss, the task lies in remedying these situations. Perhaps to future generations 2020 will not be perceived as a moment when we wallowed in the nadir of our vices, but a year zero. A year when, like the troglodyte emerging from his cave to see the light, we came out from beneath the shadow of our ignorance, and saw the world how it really is: deeply flawed, but harboring the potential to be better.
If it doesn’t occur immediately, maybe this one seed of indignation will fully blossom in the next generation. Change is glacial, but it’s a more than worthwhile endeavour whose fire is fueled by the hope for a safer future. If these problems aren’t directly confronted face to face, it will no doubt emerge once more in the future, but maybe the next occurrence will be inestimably catastrophic.