2021 – A LOOK AHEAD

Take from 2020 what you will but if that year has taught us anything, it’s the definition of unpredictability. As we navigate our way into a new unknown, 2021 brings hope, though not complete assurance that it’s all behind us. So we file 2020 under ‘the worst of times’. But are they really? Does this little bump in the road deserve a place in the history books alongside world wars, civil wars, other pandemics and countless global events that forever changed the way we live our lives? Many will remember this as the year we were told to stay home, keep six feet apart and wear masks in public. Sadly, there are also those who will remember it as the year they lost loved ones. And then there are those who will look back on it more productively as the year they learned to cook, took up a new hobby or gained a new skill. The latter are the lucky ones. The news drew our attention to politics and pandemic numbers but little else. Our lives were disrupted but we adjusted to this, calling it the “new normal”. Many of us saw our priorities shift drastically. Luxuries became unobtainable or unfathomable due to the sudden financial uncertainty. Instead, we opted for the bare basics; food and toiletries, learning the fine skills of prioritizing.

Fast-forward to 2021; a year later and despite soaring numbers of fatalities, people hospitalized, case numbers and variants on the rise, we remain divided over the same issues that could have easily taken a backseat to the virus while we shift our concern to those most vulnerable and find ways to protect them.

Will we ever resolve the division and come together again? Do we even care to? It doesn’t seem likely when as a society, we are schooled, programmed and brainwashed like sheep to accept what we’re told by the media, whose agenda is to largely divide us by both race and politics. And they are doing a great job. Would we be better equipped to handle the pandemic if people were less divided? If you ask me, the answer is “yes”. Angry people become selfish, hateful and aggressive. They lose their boundaries and all respect for the rules. Especially with little or nothing to lose. The truth is that we’re going after the wrong people when we turn on each other. There is a far bigger enemy causing havoc on our lives, playing us all for pawns in their high stakes game of chess. In order to win, we must drag our asses to the opponent’s end where that pawn can be promoted to a queen. Only then can we gain the power to claim victory and declare the game over. We have to stop treating each other as the enemy and come together. If we can do that in 2021, we can finally start to heal those terrible wounds in our society and rid our world of the poisons running rampant in the framework of our systems.