Still Standing: A Year-End Reflection

So, here we are. It's the last weekend of 2020. The dumpster-fire is smoldering and very nearly extinguished.

There's no denying that, on the whole, 2020 has sucked. 

All of us had to endure a global crisis in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic. It forced us all to make radical changes in our lives. Many of us, especially those of us who are well off and in the developed world, had to deal with the hardest of all "first-world problems": inconvenience. 

Meanwhile, our fellow passengers to the grave who aren't so well off have had to endure major hardships: loss of employment, loss of income, loss of businesses, loss of shelter, and, unfortunately, in some cases, loss of life.

This scourge has, either directly or indirectly, impacted us all. In some cases, we've lost loved ones to it. And if we haven't, we likely know someone who has, or we know someone who's had the virus. 

Some of us got lucky and never contracted the virus. Those of us who got lucky, nonetheless, felt the sting of having to adjust our lives to cope. Some of us had to learn to work from home; some had to deal with being cooped up with their families constantly.

Some of us were not so lucky and had to either endure mild symptoms and potentially mentally destructive isolation or barely clung to life thanks to modern medical machinery. 

Compounding this overarching anxiety, particularly here in America, was the renewed social unrest that came this summer in the wake of the death of George Floyd. The death of Breonna Taylor followed shortly, along with the events in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in which Kyle Rittenhouse shot killed Joseph Rosenbaum, Anthony Huber, and Gaige Grosskreutz, killed the former two and injuring the latter. 

And, to complete this turd-sandwich of a year, we had an election--what felt like the second longest election in history (after 2016).

Yet, here we are.

We survived it.

We're still standing.

Now, I know what you're thinking: Ian, the fuck's wrong with you? How, after that long list of shit you just enumerated could you even have the slightly bit of hope left in your soul?

It's a valid question, so here's my answer.

I don't necessarily think that 2021 will be the greatest year ever. I'm only saying that there's the possibility of it being a great year. And, looking at what's happened this year, in the wake of all that hell, I'd at least make the argument that there's room for hope.

Most of the country, and much of the world, saw what happened to George Floyd. This reignited the Black Lives Matter movement, which (arguably) the right had used as a stick to beat (in many senses of that word), the left and center with in the 2016 election in the wake of Michael Brown's death. However, this time, when it happened, people literally saw what happened, and thus the whole public attitude towards the movement shifted in a positive direction. The first step to fixing a problem is to acknowledge there is one, and we finally have. 

This country has faced one of the worst economic downturns since the 2008 Recession, and we have a chance to bounce back from it because we're still here. We've done it twice before, once without the help of a World War, and if we cooperate, we can do it again.

When the dangers of COVID-19 finally became apparent, doctors originally projected it would take them 18 months to develop a vaccine. Now, here we are, 9 months later, and we have 2 that are at or over 90% effective. 

We, like Ebenezer Scrooge at the end of A Christmas Carol, still have a chance to make a difference. And change (hopefully for the better), is in the air.

We elected a new President, Joe Biden, who assisted in breaking a glass-ceiling by having Kamala Harris as his running-mate. How he will fair in office is still an unknowable mystery, but we know that he will certainly be different from his outgoing predecessor. Different might be good, but we won't know until after they're both sworn in on January 20th. But the opportunity for betterment is there.

The campaign to permanently fix the ongoing issue of systemic racism in this country is still going strong. News Media may no longer covering it, but the efforts have not diminished in strength and determination. How this will proceed, I'm not sure. But the opportunity for betterment is there.

Finally (and we didn't even have to wait until 2021 for this to occur), at least two vaccines to combat COVID-19 are already in circulation. Citizen in high-risk categories, such as the elderly and those working on the frontlines to combat the virus in the medical fields, are receiving it as we speak. Still, more people need it and, at present, no plan exists to get these vaccines more widely circulated. But the opportunity for betterment is there. 

So, despite all the shit that hit the fan in 2020, I'm finding myself heading forward into 2021 hopeful. We faced one of the hardest years ever, and, while there is still plenty that needs address and we shouldn't grow complacent, there's still opportunity for things to get better. 

It's not a guarantee; it's merely a possibility. Let's try to make the most of it.