By Anastasia Burton
Remember all those posts about 2020 being “our” year? All those travel plans and all those different activities you wanted to do? Many were excited for the beginning of a new decade and what it had in store for us. Sadly, the year was off to a nerve wrecking start with fear of World War III outbreak, followed by Kobe’s death along with other promising athletes’ lives, as well as the Australian bush fires. Coronavirus was just some virus from far away that would never catch up to us. Right?
Sadly, we were wrong. Precautions were not taken fast enough and for some weird reason, when we are sick, we stay at home, but this virus decided that it wanted to travel and get to know the world. Never before were countries on lockdown. It’s almost as though our world turned into a movie, not one of those lovey dovey romantic comedies either, but more like an end of the world sort of drama. The comedy in this whole situation is that people are ignoring facts, COVID-19 has a 3% death rate and Wuhan have released their last patients who had Coronavirus. It’s been reported that as of 21st of March 2020 it had been 48hours since any new cases were reported. The memes of quarantine are flowing in, and yes, it is great that people are getting to stay indoors and maybe catch up on things they had been putting off due to work/college, and whatever else was going on in their life. After one week of quarantine, things begin to get depressing. Cabin fever is a real thing and now that you have all the time in the world, you want to go out somewhere and do something.
2020 was to bring with its great memories for those planning vacations to places they have never been. It was to bring a fresh start to many who had suffered in 2019 and the years prior. It’s almost as though all our plans and desires for 2020 jinxed the year and brought misfortune. You might not believe in all this stuff but it’s possible that the damage we had done to the planet were becoming suffocating to our environment and it decided to fight back. Since the outbreak and lockdown, many countries have seen a huge improvement in their air pollution statistics. One could only hope that these statistics will become worldwide and will be reversed enough to give us a chance to change our ways.
How are we supposed to have a good 2020 when we neglect the world around us and focus only on ourselves? It is crucial for people to work together to contain this virus by staying home and offering our help to the elderly, or people who cannot travel to the store for supplies, or maybe need a hand with something at their home. We need to take our health seriously and we need to work on other aspects of our lives and improve our relationship with each other as well as our actions. I have a feeling that once 2020 is over, we will see an improvement to our ozone layer and hopefully, after such a serious pandemic, people and businesses will stop trying to exploit people and obsess over money, but will actually start working for the people.
Maybe this whole situation will help with the rent rates around the world. I feel like 2020 is not a failed year just yet, it has potential. The world is just trying to rebuild itself and take a breather. And you should take one too. Enjoy this small part of 2020 where you can just do nothing and maybe explore some new hobbies. Or just take a much-needed rest and binge watch all seasons of Desperate Housewives.
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