Perfect Vision
“All in all, the start of 2020 allowed people to view life at the highest resolution. It made people value the little things in life. It showed everyone the importance of the workforce that receives minimum wage. It showed people the importance of the medical and research field. It certainly opened everybody’s eyes to the incompetency of our leaders. It made people realize the importance of camaraderie.”
This year has been a struggle for everyone, it hasn’t ended yet but it feels like an eternity of suffering and like a perfect vision, everyone is given the chance to view the world clearly. Everyone is given the chance to glance at his or her past or look at the path ahead. Twenty-twenty in a brief is unforgiving and at the same time, times worth living. Furthermore, this year’s first month recorded so much tragedies that people plead and prayed for 2020 to pass and fast forward to 2021. Here is January 2020:
On the third of January, as the world lit fireworks in celebration for the new year, a vicious fire broke in the middle east. This time the flames weren’t for celebration but as the continuation of a brawl that the United States of America and Iran have been brewing since 1980; a drone strike near Baghdad International Airport took the life of an Iranian major general Qasem Soleimani of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. As the two great nations collide and fight for dominance like two alphas battling for a mate, one must come out of the dust victorious to claim its prize but this leaves the other wounded and weak. For decades both nations endured the consequences of their decision. Though many hope for both nations to stand down and shake hands, the current leaders of the two nations, say otherwise. Thus, blood still flow in the streets as ammunitions never seem to run out.
At the end of 2019, memes about plagues kept popping out on social media stating that 1820 and 1920 experienced great plagues then voila: on the 7th of January 2020, Chinese authorities announced a new virus and was first identified as 2019-nCoV. As people hoped for a happy and prosperous new year they instead welcomed a virus that sprang from the recklessness and the insanity of a Chinese. Covid-19 is a strain of a virus from the coronavirus family and can cause respiratory complications and if left untreated can result to death. The virus has been announced as a pandemic by the World Health Organization and each nation all over the world imposed a lockdown over their territories, an act to mitigate the effects of the virus.
After four decades of sleep the Taal volcano unleashed its cloud of ashes on the 12th of January over the province of Batangas which later spread in parts of Luzon. The eruption was followed by an ash fall that mixed with the rain, a perfect recipe for lahar. Towns in a vast radius were covered in grey, trees drooped due to the weight of slurry, live stocks were left to perish, roads became impassable as people move from town to town to save themselves from the lahar. 40 individuals unfortunately did not survive the unrest of the volcano. The duration of the calamity brought a nationwide initiative and the spirit of the Filipinos were once again tested.
On an unexpected turn of events, on the 26th of January, a helicopter boarding nine passengers crashed in California with no survivors, aboard the helicopter is the NBA icon Kobe Bryant. The world mourned over his death, fans around the world grieved over the loss of a legend. What’s even more tragic is the fact that also aboard the chopper is his daughter Gianna Bryant and a family.
In other reports, numerous large seismic activities around the globe has been recorded and a massive bushfire is still eating its way through the vegetation of southern Australia, endangering the habitats and the wildlife of Australia. In addition, wars and diplomatic conflicts that sprung from territorial disputes are still threatening the peace and wellbeing of many nations around the globe, and scientific development and innovation reach its peak, many fear the lingering effects of knowing too much.
Fundamentally, amidst the tragedies people ought to move on and learn to use the tools that they have to further human development. Here are some realization brought by the tragic start of 2020:
Civilization’s battle for power has been costly throughout the millennium, everyone’s grandparents and the people before them witnessed what war could bring but it seems that people never really learn from the past, rather they dwell in the gratifying feeling of defeating another and claiming superiority over a race or a territory. Ultimately, people are the judge of their own actions and they should exist as a collective whole, not separated by race or religion but bound by the very strand of their genome. Humanity should coexist as a species and thrive as one.
Life is so precious and so fragile that we seem to forget its purpose. Humans have taken so many things for granted that they forgot the importance of security. Before the virus, people did not give much emphasis on the action plans that they should have in place if a pandemic was to happen and now that they are facing one, the leaders of each nation have no idea of what to do. People invested their time and money on entertainment and forgot that health is more important. Through the years they’ve looked up to celebrities and famous people and considered them as influential and essential but as they face a situation like this they suddenly realize that medical and nursing personnel are more important. Therefore, people should prioritize security in order for them to have assurance.
The Filipinos are indeed resilient, even in times where hope is nowhere to be found and nothing is left but themselves, they find the littlest of joy and they use it as a motivation to stand up again and rebuild what has been damaged but at the same time their resilience make them vulnerable. They get positive reinforcement when they get called resilient and they forget that aside from rising up and standing on their feet they should also have the responsibility and the sense to take measure and prepare for the next calamity. Instead, Filipinos develop a mindset where they care less on what danger is coming because they think that they can overcome anything. For that reason, the Filipino become less and less equipped and less educated because they think and they believe that they know everything but in reality they barely know something.
People still ignore the lingering effects of climate change. Some don’t care as much because they cannot feel the effects of global warming. Bushfires, rising sea level, drought, excessive rainfall, temperature fluctuation, fresh water depletion, late or early seasons, and extinction are all effects of climate change and if people continue to ignore it, humans will be the next species to be extinct.
Like a perfect vision, 2020 is a year where everyone should open their eyes and expect the unexpected.
