2020 Sucked and Things Are Not Going to Magically Get Better

What we do is what we get. And we need to do better.

I wanted to end the year with a positive story. This one, as you can probably tell, is not going to be that. I wanted to, after all the bad things that have happened this year, look back and find good things. I even started writing that story. Then Croatia got hit by an earthquake. Again.

A twelve-year-old girl died. There may be more casualties.

So, I cannot write a positive, feel-good story today. Right now I feel as if I will never be able to write a positive, feel-good story again.

I’m tired. And sad. And afraid. This year made us all feel tired and sad and afraid.

Perhaps you also tried to look back and find good things that happened this year. Things you are grateful for. Perhaps you, like me, managed to find some. But then, as it did me, reality landed on you like a ton of bricks.

And maybe, like me, you got angry.

This is not how things should be! This is not fair! No twelve-year-old should lie dead in a pile of rubble. No mother should be told she lost their child. Nobody should be forced to sit outside their house in the cold waiting to see if any help will come.

This, of course, is in no way unique. There is nothing special about this picture. Children are killed every day. Mothers are told they lost their children every day. And plenty of people are sitting outside in the cold praying that help would come.

You know this. I know this. We all know this. And we do nothing.

2020 sucked. And 2021 will not be any better.

When I was reflecting on the past year, digging for good things, I realised something: I wasn’t focused on negativity because everything around me was bad. I was focused on negativity because I was focusing on negativity. I chose to think about the last year in negative terms.

It’s hard to think like that now. No one chose this situation. It’s a result of two tectonic plates moving against each other. Our grief, our damage, our death is just an unfortunate accident.

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