Hindsight is 2020.
Ringing in this new year I had so much hope. How could you not with this group?
I remember writing on this blog that I hoped 2020 would be the year where we saw life perfectly. See it in 20/20.
Where all of the WHYS became clear. Where all the fuzzy images on our periphery came in clear and crisp. A year where we would know what to zoom in on in the cacophony of images from our inundating environment. Where we started answering things instead of just pilling unresolved issues on top of each other. Things just becoming clearer in 2020 with 20/20.
And here we are. We are in 2020.
One could argue that it didn’t come true.
Or did it?
We are definitely seeing the world differently.
There is a real push to SOLVE problems and that solution involves not just one person, not even one nation, but the world’s greatest minds coming together. It has pushed us to ZOOM in. Yes…maybe by force, but for the first time, many people are really looking at their family. Really looking at what they value. And rethinking the norm. Rethinking things that you once took for granted or never thought to question its beyond “this is the way it is.” Shaking up standard institutions who have for decades remained untouched (or at least closed their eyes) by the change around them and the future instability like schools.
And maybe it’s not pretty nor the right time. But here we are.
So what will the future be in this new 20/20 vision? How will we view the world now that we see it clear and crisp?
Like every model out there I have a BIG spread for my predictions. So many roads. So many possible turns and unfortunately one thing we humans are terrible at are predictions! I think we all learned that last presidential election!
But I see light and darkness up ahead.
The light: We could see this as a WAKE up call. Ourselves, our families, our state, our country and the world’s wants and needs have changed. Values have changed. Family time has a new definition. And the definition of a “problem” has new meaning. All of a sudden that issue that took up hours of your mental capacity like the annoying neighbor that plays music too loud or the math teacher that you feel is giving your child an undeserved bad grade feels meaningless. And you may even be reflecting on those old problems and I bet you see them in a new light. This is truly a gift. A gift from your mental slavery and anxiety. All those things matter less. Maybe your new 20/20 vision will make life have more meaning in the long run.
Healthcare and the value of life have sprung into the spotlight. Watching the world’s scientist SHARE information instead of waiting to be “published” to have the credit has been INCREDIBLE to see. I’m sure some of you don’t quite understand how NOVEL that is. As someone who reads studies and follows healthcare policies let me tell you that the healthcare business is focused on MONEY and PRIDE. Hospitals compete to cure. Hide data. There is skepticism of outsiders. Outside ideas on how to solve problems are seen as an attack on the system and not welcomed. I’ve been one of those outside voices. I know this first hand. Each hospital trying to prove that they are right. Each hospital trying to profit off its discoveries. This is REAL. I am NOT making this up.
And maybe that will now change. Maybe cancer can be solved! Cancer in the US alone strikes 1,735,350 people a year and the mortality rate is much higher than Covid-19 and it doesn’t go away. It’s not seasonal and it has an economic toll too. You will lose your job along with potentially your life.
This 20/20 vision may change the landscape of medicine forever. Maybe we can reinvent how healthcare runs. Learn from the collaboration of private and public sectors and welcome outside opinions from other countries. WOW. Wouldn’t that be something!
The environment may get the attention that it deserves after this. People are reconnecting with nature and we are seeing nature reconnect with us.
Education…more on another post, but maybe through this experience, you have seen the importance of children being socialized and working together. You probably value school in a new way. You see it less as the academic palace to get your child a leg up, but a place to be surrounded by human interaction and love. You even may be questioning the price tag…as you see the online resources that your private school teachers are pirating that exist for free. You may have not known that the world of education is mostly open-sourced. Okay enough on that…for another time, but you may be looking for a new option down the road. Or you may have to due to financial circumstances. Private education will have to pivot to survive.
But on the flip side, the other end of the projection of what our new vision could bring is…TRIBALISM. This scares the CRAP out of me and has loads of consequences beyond isolation. While by nature we are tribal creatures and tribes truly are the reason we won the evolutionary lottery. They have allowed us to become the dominant species as groups allow the distribution of work and specialization. And as we progressed, tribes got bigger, allowing us to build large communities that reach towards the sky. However, tribalism (especially driven by fear) can turn violent and destructive. You don’t even have to look to the distant past to learn this lesson, tribalism can become us vs. them. To this day this view of tribalism takes thousands of lives a day, Shiite versus Sunni etc.
I fear that with leadership today this is a real possibility. Nationalism (a first world edition of tribalism) has been rising prior to this virus and now it will give governments a real platform to push this agenda. Borders locked not out of fear of jobs, but out of fear of life (real or not real). And the world will become isolated tribes fighting for resources rather than working together.
Those are my bookmarks. So much promise of good. So many opportunities to come together to SOLVE, but the opposite 20/20 vision is equally plausible.
And it can make you feel helpless. I know I do. But we can only control our own vision and pray that inspires others.
Comments