What You Should Have Learned In 2020.
2020. What a strange year that was. A year full of many obstacles and tragedies — COVID came and got us by necks, put us in and out of lockdown for practically the whole year, people lost their jobs and/or became financially stagnant, and I know a lot of people’s mental health was challenged. I know mine definitely was. We lost a lot of people in 2020, from Kobe Bryant, Caroline Flack, Pop Smoke, Naya Rivera to Barbara Windsor and many more others. This should’ve shown you that we should be grateful for life and thankful that we all saw 365/365 days of an exhaustive year as many people did not.
One lesson I learnt was that even when times are tough, you have to keep going, you have to keep grinding even when you feel like there is no point in doing so. I witnessed a large amount of people use the lockdown period to proceed with perfecting their crafts, finding their purpose, trying out new things and finding new ways to keep themselves busy.
2020 taught me how to build my character, it taught me to always have hope for tomorrow and to not give up so easily. Always try to hold your head up high and keep faith within you at all times — even when you feel or believe that there is no hope.
2020 was a year of revelations, a year of trials and tribulations, a year of breakthroughs and testimonies, a year where communities decided to take a stand for what they believe in — Black Lives Matter protests, End Sars protests, George Floyd protests and various others and lest we forget our own achievements and winnings.
However, 2020 was an eye opener, many matters that have been ongoing for years were brought to more light during this year. For example, the mass incarceration of Uhigar Muslims in supposed ‘re-education camps’ which in reality were stripping these individuals of their religion and their ethnic identities in hope for them to become completely loyal to the state. There has been forced labour, subjects of intimidation and threats; e.g. threat of arbitrary detention (detainment by the government without fair trial etc) and individuals have been put in situations of dependability and vulnerability by threats being made to family members back in Xinjiang
Lebanon. Amidst the crisis, their government resigned, they were also battling the outbreak of COVID- 19 and there was an explosion that killed at least 200 people and left 5,000 injured. Alongside this all, they are going through an unprecedented economic crisis which pushed a large sum of people into poverty and led to anti-government protests.
Separately, you should know by now to expect the unexpected in life and always pray whether times are good and glorious or rough and tough. Us beings in England, don’t have it half as bad as other countries and communities across the world — this doesn’t mean our own circumstances are completely blissful, but to an extent, we should still be grateful for making it through a year like 2020. Thank You God.
Psalm 18:1: “I love you, Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”
