As the end of the semester draws near and the final months of what can only be described as an unprecedented year play out before us, I cannot help but reflect on the things I have learned and the lessons I will take away from 2020.
With its share of ups and more downs than I’m sure any of us would like to count, it’s clear that no matter your experience, there is a lot to be learned from this year. As I have listened to my friends, family and peers echo an excitement for a fresh start in the new year, I am struck with the gravity of what a “fresh start” means.
While there are plenty of things I want to leave in 2020, when the clock strikes midnight on Dec. 31, I think it’s important to remember everything that got us all to this point, good and bad.
Fresh starts are important, but they are only effective and meaningful if you take what you have learned and apply it, not forget it. Like philosopher George Santayana famously said, “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
The notion of a fresh start in itself is idealistic, holding with it the hope that whatever lies ahead is better than what we left behind. Although with much trepidation, I too hold the hope that 2021 can be a better year than 2020, but I think the only way to do that is to remain realistic about what that “better” world is going to look like.
As 2021 is a symbol of a fresh start for everyone looming in the near future, it’s important to remain realistic about what the year will bring. COVID-19 isn’t going to miraculously disappear like Cinderella’s ball gown when the clock strikes midnight. Racial and political hatred, climate change and other pressing issues aren’t going to go away either. No matter how much we want them to, things aren’t going to change unless we acknowledge that they still need to. If we pretend that our problems, big or small, can be fixed by a tick of a minute hand, we are in for a surprise.
So when you wake up on Jan. 1, go outside, put on your mask and interact with your friends and families, remember to take with you the lessons you learned and the challenges you overcame during 2020. You can be hopeful that a lot of things change, but unless we all make a conscientious effort to affect change in our own lives, it won’t happen.
