2020

It's the time of the year when we post how we spent the year and how it culminated. This year was an exception–no throwback travel photos, no photos of your family and friends being together. It has been a long and dreary year for us, and January 2020 felt like it happened a decade ago. We have been through hardships this year, and all of these have affected most of us. It's easy to say that 2020 is the worst year yet as some succumbed to the virus, and long-awaited plans have to be put on hold indefinitely. Some of us were also quite eager to see the sunshine again, the birds sing, the flowers bloom, and this cold veil, the outbreak lifts itself off of this world. Most had desired so mere, yet so lofty. Everyone wanted to do what they did last year and the years before: live normally again, breathe once again some outer air. However, before this outbreak, people were tired of living monotonous lives, and they craved some change.

This year was all about realizations instead of expectations. We truly understood the meaning in the phrase, 'life is precious' and truly learned not to take anything or anyone for granted, not to guarantee anything, and to expect less and accept more. 

2020 changed us in every possible way. What was once flourishing in 2019 plunged into a deep, dark abyss in 2020. While some of us became a little cold, let's shed off the misfortunes that engulfed us, let us again smell the glittering new year. 2020 was a year that enhanced people's experience with turmoil and some with trauma due to the passing of those that once breathed air like we once did. While we're at it, we have stories and tales to tell when we're old and gray, like what we hear from the war veterans. While I am aware that it's like comparing apples and oranges, what happened this year will be embalmed in our history books, and one day, the future generations will one day use it as a source of knowledge.

One can only hope that 2021 will give us everything that we couldn't have in 2020. While 2021 rhymes with '2020 won', it didn't win.