By Diane Woodrow – Guest post
2020 they said was the going to be the year of perfect vision – Twenty twenty vision! Then they panicked because suddenly we were all locked inside, unless we were key workers. Suddenly they were talking about how this lockdown/pandemic had been predicted before. Lots of prophecies bouncing out. But not once, at least on the ones I listened to, did I hear anything about this 20/20 vision.
Let me list the things I think this year of 2020 is revealing: (these are in no particular order so apologies if some look like they are of more importance. That is not my intention)
- who the key workers really are. Not just health and care workers but delivery drivers, both food and parcels, those who empty the bins, not just our household ones but the ones in the parks and streets, the takeaway food and coffee workers, those who work in food producing factories. I’m sure I’ve missed some.
- the fragility of the world economy
- poverty and how people teeter on the edge and losing 20% of their wages pushes them over the edge
- the huge one that is causing riots and protests across the world – including social media infiltrations via K-Pop fans – is racism. Not just slurs and comments but institutionalised racism.
- But this is also showing how connected the world is and how people don’t agree with all that is going on and will speak out, will do something. And perhaps it is because so many are at home and have time to do something about it. I am seeing websites starting gathering info, people doing things they would not have had the time or energy to do.
- Not forgetting climate change
- Domestic violence
- Child abuse – interesting how during this time Police say they may have found the real abductor of Madeline McCann which happened so many years ago. Things coming into the light, things being truly seen
mental health issues - the fragility and incompetence of our government and other governments around the world
- the strange system in the USA where one man speaks for all no matter how sound he is
But you know what? All these issues have been raised before. It seems not so long ago another middle aged black man was crying out “I can’t breath” but things did not explode like they have done. It did not become a worldwide thing. Why now? Some say it is because people have less to do, but I would like to raise the issue of 20/20 vision, the prediction that this year we would see things clearly.
It looks too like I might not be the only one thinking this. Here is this great poem by Leslie Dwight going around which says:
“What if 2020 is the year we’ve been waiting for?
A year so uncomfortable, so painful, so scary, so raw —
that it finally forces us to grow,”
“A year that screams so loud, finally awakening us
from our ignorant slumber.
A year we finally accept the need for change.
Declare change. Work for change. Become the change.”
“A year we finally band together, instead of
pushing each other further apart.“2020 isn’t cancelled, but rather
the most important year of them all.”
[accessed 5th June 2020]
“I’m Diane. In 2007 I married Ian and he took on not just me but my two children who I was homeschooling. I was a single mother for nearly 10 years and for some of that time my children and I were part of Ywam Scotland. Now my son in the army and my daughter, after having done her degree in London, is living in Cardiff. In 2016 Ian and I left his 3-bed house in Wiltshire and bought a 6-bed house in North Wales where I have found my spiritual home. From here, when life was “normal” I rented out rooms in our house via Airbnb, etc, and ran creative writing workshops. I love to spend my days writing, reading, taking my dog for long walks on the beach and in the hills around our house, and keeping in touch with my friends.”