The year 2020 was set to be a peaceful one for humanity. It was supposed to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II,[1] the 2020 Olympics,[2] hindsight 2020 memes, and nothing more. However, the year got progressively worse starting with massive bushfires in Australia,[3] tensions between the US and Iraq,[4] and eventually, the COVID-19 pandemic.
There's no denying that we as humanity have handled this poorly. Governments around the world were hesitant to introduce lock-downs and deploy rapid testing and care, leading to rampant spread of the disease, which caused hospitals to overflow... you know how it went down.
Millions of people were infected and thousands of people lost their lives.[5] Those who didn't get infected were affected in other ways. Economic activity slowed to a crawl due to the lock-downs,[6] and millions of people lost their jobs,[7] including myself.
I was all set to move to San Francisco this summer to be a Security Intern at NCC Group. It was devastating to hear that the internship was cancelled. I had so many plans, and wanted to experience so many new things while I was supposed to be there.
My New Year's resolution was to visit a new city or national park every month. I had just obtained my IDNYC[8] which allows holders to obtain annual memberships to museums and zoos across NYC (among others in a slew of benefits). I also wanted to watch all the broadway plays (using the lotteries[9] of course). Well, that didn't go quite as swimmingly as I expected.
There's no use cribbing about it though. I must take this opportunity to better myself in ways that I still can. To that end, I've begun exercising regularly, sharpening my web dev skills, and becoming more productive[10] with my now-empty summer schedule.
Although this seems like a descent into the end of days, I hold out hope. We humans are a stubborn lot. We're all in this together. We will get through this and come out of this as better people. Cheers to our new beginnings!
XXXII Olympic Summer Games Man, Roman numerals confuse me. ↩︎
I maintain that lock-downs are necessary for curbing the spread of the virus, despite the severe hit to our economy. ↩︎
Check out this handy guide by Playbill for info on broadway lotteries. ↩︎
CGPGrey's video on lock-down productivity I highly recommend watching this. It gave me a whole new perspective on the current crisis and helped me pull myself together. ↩︎