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How Will 2020 Be Seen 30 Years From Now? I found this question fascinating and borderline impossible to comprehend. It's absurd to try and answer this question since we don't know what the next day will bring let alone the rest of the year. But, nonetheless, I wanted to write my current thoughts down so I could compare them to my thoughts of the future. So, here we go.

We’re only halfway through the year, and the first six months have been some of the hardest this country has faced in our history. The US alone already lost 130,000 people due to the pandemic, with the virus still largely uncontained. The economic reality is grim and will continue to get worse as compiling disparities come to light. Our healthcare system is broken. Unemployment is nearly 15% and growing. Millions of Americans have lost health insurance during a pandemic. Small and medium-sized businesses are getting decimated. Black communities are being disproportionately affected. Systematic racism, police brutality, and white privilege continue to run rampant in this country. The list goes on and on. We’re living in extremely dark times, there’s no sugarcoating this basic fact. However, what if this wild shake-up of the status quo and throwing so many of us into unchartered territory had a few positives as well? I’ve noticed hard conversations taking place in my life about racism, police brutality, politics, and so much more. Some businesses are seeing the benefits of letting their employees work-from-home permanently. Families are spending a lot of time with each other. Many people are taking time to get in shape, work on passion projects, take a much-needed break, or ask hard questions about their future. Maybe being thrown into the fire and facing adversity will have a few positive results when looking towards a better future. I hope so.

Now, before we start with these potential positives mentioned above, we first have to finish talking about the negatives. We’re all aware of the hardships this year has brought to families from all over the world. In the US we have a narcissistic president who lacks empathy, education, morality, and basic leadership. Propaganda, polarization, a complete lack of collective direction, and a broken education system have somehow politicized good hygiene and wearing masks in public. This, in turn, will continue to showcase the pitfalls of our broken healthcare system. As of May 13th approximately 27 million Americans, including myself, lost health insurance because of unemployment. Oh, you lost your job? You’re now uninsured and will need to pay out of pocket expenses if you get sick. Sorry, better luck next time! This brings me to the BLM movement, which is once again bringing to light the disparities and systematic oppression the Black community and other minorities have faced throughout this country’s history. These issues are perpetuated and even more harmful during times of crisis, when the pandemic is having a disproportionate impact on Black communities. I could go on and on. All of these issues and many others are now combining to form a worst-case scenario for both the pandemic, the economy, and the future of our country. Yeah, not good.

Okay, now that I had a chance to vent and talk about some of the bad, I want to do a complete 180 and instead focus on potential opportunities these dark times are highlighting in my life and others I know. There’s no arguing how hard this pandemic has been for almost everyone. On a personal note, I lost my job in May and haven’t seen a dime of unemployment in over a month-in-a-half. Likewise, living alone during peak quarantine was mentally draining and extremely lonely at times. That’s coming from someone who’s ultra-independent by the way, which brings to light how isolated it truly was for a while. In fact, as I type this, bills are adding up, rent is due, and the future is as scary as ever. Every day it’s a fight to keep my mentality positive. However, despite my situation, I’m aware of how lucky and privileged I am. I’m healthy. My family and friends are healthy. I have a roof over my head and fresh water to drink. I have time to explore passion projects. I’m on a relentless journey to eat healthier and get in shape. I have time to focus on improving my mental health, which is something I’ve been running away from for far too long. I have time to read, write, listen to podcasts, and educate myself about whatever peaks my interests. I finally had the time to build and launch my freelancing business, Rose City Marketing. I even have time to do absolutely nothing and really think about what I want my future to look like. But don’t get me wrong, some days you just need to binge every stand-up comedy special Netflix has. There’s nothing wrong with that either. It’s all about the journey. Put simply, I’m using this time for self-reflection. Who do I want to be? Am I happy with the current state of my life? What do I want to improve about myself? What’s next? Even though it’s hard, I’m finding that this time is also valuable when looking at the bigger picture.

In a way, these tough times may be forcing us to ask tougher questions about who we are. In my conversation with family and friends, I’ve started to notice more profound questions and ideas being brought up. Tough conversations about race, politics, and the future of the country are being talked about now more than ever. Maybe, when we look back at all the hurt, we’ll be able to pull some good out of 2020. Maybe, just maybe, it was a wake-up call many of us needed to turn our lives around.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. But, for now, WEAR A MASK.