第1067期：My recap of the year – Good Riddance 2020!
Finally, the nightmarish 2020 is drawing to a close!
What a roller coaster year!
But it was a downward-only spiral, for a normal roller coaster has ups and downs along its rail. Our roller coaster year of 2020 has no rail, only surprise after surprise no one asked for.
In retrospect, a quick flash-back through the past months seems surreal, as if our mundane life had been segmented willy-nilly from the start and montaged into an abstract painting along the way.
What a piece of artwork by providence.
If Albert Einstein and Elon Musk were right about the warp of time space, how would we explain what’s happened in 2020 to someone who comes to visit us from the past (say 2010) or the future (say 2030)?
Would anyone even believe what we tell them?
Would human beings from 10 years ago be taken aback by our crazier world than the one they’d whined about?
Would our fellow Homo sapiens from the future be aghast at our species being so fragile and good for nothing?
Seriously, just before our forgetful human brains forget, what in the world has happened this year?
I have summarized it as follows:
Jan
• The Australian bush fire made inroad into the new year, leaving over 500 million innocent animals dead, including my favorite koalas who are so harmless and wouldn’t say boo to a goose.
• The US drone killed the Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, kindling another Persian gulf crisis.
• The new coronavirus disease erupted.
Feb
• WHO named the new pandemic COVID-19.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) plunged by 1,190.95 points, or 4.4%, triggered by the COVID-19 panic.
Mar
• Oil price plunged 30% as a result of the Russo-Saudi oil price war. The Dow Jones concurred with another 2,000 point dive.
• Many countries tightened borders. More countries followed suit and the world was closing up.
Apr
• Oil price reached a record low.
• Civil unrest broke out in Europe against lock-down policies.
May
• Astronomers announced the discovery of the first black hole located in a star system visible to the naked eye. — A huge scientific breakthrough but WHO cared — when 4 million positive COVID-19 infections were confirmed worldwide.
• The global death toll from COVID-19 exceeded 300,000.
June
• “Black Lives Matter” broke out in the U.S.
• The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 passed 10 million worldwide.
July
• 3rd of July, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 passed 11 million worldwide.
• 5 days later, the number passed 12 million.
Aug
• 10th of Aug, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 passed 20 million worldwide.
• 30th of Aug, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 passed 25 million worldwide.
Sep
• The worldwide death toll from COVID-19 exceeded ONE million.
Oct
• The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 passed 40 million worldwide.
• Protest in Thailand broke out
Nov
• Joe Biden became the President-elect.
• The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 passed 60 million worldwide.
Dec
• 27th of Dec, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 passed 80 million worldwide.
• Pfizer’s vaccine is expected to be the game changer.
Alas! What else can we say?
Friedrich Nietzsche said, “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”
It’s paradoxically true, especially this year.
This year, millions of people have asked countless why’s and haven’t got the answers, but we keep asking.
This year, millions of lives have been lost, numerous more suffered, but life goes on.
This year, every “why” has been painful, and every “how” has been heart wrenching, if we look at the world, our planet, the human species, all as an indivisible entirety instead of closed borders against one another, invisible walls erected upon hatred, bigotry, paranoia, xenophobia, and all the many phobias.
But every one of us is still seeking, waiting, hoping, crossing our fingers for our why’s and how’s.
Hope is a good thing.
Let’s be strong TOGETHER!
Alexandre Dumas wrote at the very end of his great novel “The Count of Monte Criso”:
“[U]ntil the day when God will deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is contained in these two words,—’Wait and hope. ‘”
Yes, let’s WAIT and HOPE.
Good riddance 2020 – don’t let the door hit you on the way out!
Each year, Google makes a video to review the year.
This year, Google’s 2020 recap has made many people tearful.
(*Watch the 3-minute video clip: https://youtu.be/rokGy0huYEA)
