Dear 2020,
I don’t think I’ll ever forget a year like the one you gave us.
There were memorable years in my life where tragic events touched us all. The Year 2001 was hard for a singular horrific and tragic event that happened on 9/11. The Year 1986 was tragic for me. It was the year I lost my grandmother and on the day she was buried the Challenger Space Shuttle exploded shortly after liftoff. My day of tragedy is linked with a national day of grief.
But you, 2020, single-handedly took all of my worst-case scenarios and managed to make nearly every day a piss poor excuse not to wake up. From Kobe Bryant and his daughter dying to Covid-19 and our response here in the United States to inept leadership from Washington to losing so many good and notable people, not to mention the wild weather, “murder hornets” — the list goes on and on! That said, if you think you deserve us making an effort to party and drink champagne on your behalf, guess again dipshit! I’m done! You get nothing! Parties are for years that at least give us a drop of hope for the new year.
You’ve managed to make me fear what 2021 has to offer!
All the pain you left affects not just us Gen X’ers, but for our Millennials, Gen Y’s, and Z’s. So NO! No, you don’t get party favors, no streamers, no Guy Lombardo, no Dick Clark, and not even Carson FREAKING Daily!
NOTHING! You get my hands round your neck with me making sure you don’t ever breathe again.
For me, as a Black American, this year was quite possibly the worst with the chilling deaths of George Floyd and Brianna Taylor, to name a few, and the hundreds of men and women of color gunned down and violently murdered at the hand of the police nationwide with little to no accountability!
The death of Mr. Floyd woke not just Black people, but White Americans, and people all over the world which was one of the few bright spots of this year. We were willing to mask up and risk a deadly virus to protest in the masses to defund the police at great risk of loss of life. What’s even better is that the actions of an overpriced, out of touch, and out of control law enforcement will now have White people standing with us to demand change. Also, generations of these Americans protesting got woken to our country’s real history kept from our classrooms that shaped how our country developed. White Americans got their hands on books and started listening to speakers in the Black community with a willingness to do the hard work to dismantle the racial apparatus that’s kept people of color (especially women of color) from getting the justice and dignity we all deserve.
Ah yes, 2020!
The year where a single virus brought the entire world to its knees. We knew this possibility could happen one day, but never did we consider just how much our entire society would be shut down keeping our country — our world — at a standstill. But instead of galvanizing the nation in a unified effort to shut the spread of the virus by putting on our mask, keeping our distance, and washing our hands we…wanted to go back to “normal” again.
We wanted to forget the pandemic, the deaths, and the restrictions by getting back to normal. “Give us our sports, our party events, our dances, our holiday gatherings and parties!” We were unwilling to take seriously the fast spread of Covid so by going back to “normal” we made each of these events a “super spreader” event.
I could go on and on about how this year was perhaps the worst in modern history. Deaths in the entertainment field, RBG passing away, and hell…we lost Alex Trebek — Final Answer! This year is a crapton of flagrant assaults on humanity and unbelievable lack of courage and compassion to one another.
And yet, I still have hope!
People gathering in the streets to protest and fight against all assaults, measures like legalizing pot state by state in record numbers setting up the stage to decriminalizing this drug’s criminal charges for good and give good people a boost of dignity in the future, LGBTQ+ measures upheld in court, and Americans (and the world) celebrate the defeat of Trumpism gives me hope that maybe we can somehow put things right.
As far as New Year’s Eve…
At 11:55 p.m (EST), I will turn off the TV and remember…remember all we lost from Covid-19, the violence against peaceful Civil Rights protestors, the Latino families torn apart at the Mexico border, the neglect, and violence towards Native Americans, and the list goes on. And then, at Midnight I will go to bed.
If I could give a message to the baby new year 2021 it would be this: “Welcome to the new world kid! Sorry to break this to you, but you just entered into a shit show! Good luck!
That’s all I got to say about sorry ass year! You’ve been so horrible I’m not giving you the customary salutation I usually give.
Screw you, 2020!
Go to hell!!
