The Precious Year 2020

 The year 2020 is a year that has been portrayed by the media, as well as by the world leaders, as a year of hardship, pain and suffering. The virus that is spreading is believed to be the main cause of increased death worldwide. It is also blamed as the cause of the economic trouble as the world took austere measures to defend against the virus.

It is easy to forget that before the word COVID entered our vocabulary, the world was already on a fast track towards a crash or a clash. At the end of 2019, the global economy was already showing dangerous symptom of overheating at a scale that we have never seen before. There was rampant speculation in the stock market and rapidly growing income inequalities everywhere in the world.  While the world's economy was a runaway train wreck, the geopolitical environment also deteriorated.

Prior to COVID 19 crisis, China was struggling to keep its economic growth and seemed to have a growing tendency to exert itself to other countries like the biggest boy in the playground. The USA was already long in its self-destruct mode with its polarized politics, toxic media, health care crises and other deep-rooted social issues. Europe was already in economic distress due to its dysfunctional union and was already in a divorce court with Britain. The middle-eastern countries continued their struggle to recover from many years of violent interventions by the west. In the meantime, we are reminded about the climate crisis with unprecedented magnitude of forest fires in Australia and California and severe flooding in several Asian countries in the early part of 2020.

The corona virus may have taken so much of the world’s headlines and attention in 2020, but it is certainly not the cause of the world’s biggest problems. Some pundits have called the virus the great accelerator. Some others have called it the great equalizer. It deserves those titles and more. What the virus has done certainly, is to disrupt the rhythm of the world all at the same time. This disruption may not be a bad thing at all. It offered an opportunity for the world to work together on a common cause, to reach out with goodwill and create peace. The disruption should let us find new ways to doing things that is not destroying our environment or creating additional burdens for the next generation. 

 
As we enter 2021 with the prospect of vaccine and the hope to go back to “normal” – does that mean that we are getting back on-board the runaway train wreck?