For all the misery, shock, and pain 2020 inflicted, it also revealed many things we suspected but didn’t dare admit. We learned a lot this year, and not all of those lessons were pleasant, with many people still struggling to reconcile brutal truths.
We learned who can adapt to change and who crumbles with inconveniences. We discovered who believes in science and critical thinking and who relies on tradition and faith.
Racists, bigots, and misogynists grew bolder and uglier, and we saw who was okay with that. We observed clashes between generosity and greed, empathy, and ego.
We know that nature fights back with punishing blows, and humanity finds new ways to pollute under the guise of progress.
We witnessed how the privileged feel victimized whenever the oppressed feel empowered.
We learned that predictable hypocrisy is a valued tool for some, and participation trophies do not produce better quality leaders.
We realized we could achieve great things faster when we shared our findings and took honest critiques as gifts to build upon instead of hoarding data and information like toilet paper.
We learned that people like to use all sorts of ism terms without knowing their definitions.
What will you do with what 2020 has shown you? Will you make moral exceptions for those close to you because it would be too uncomfortable otherwise? Will you learn to forget and put it all behind you? Will you repeat your mistakes and ignore your achievements? With all that we learned, will you be humble enough to acknowledge that you still don’t know much, or will you serve as an unwitting Dunning–Kruger poster child?
What have you uncovered about yourself, and how will you continue to improve in the new year?
