2020, the year that was

 2020, the year that was

🎈The clock is ticking.  Countdown begins as we bid adieu to the Year 2020.  Oh, what a year that was.  Devoid of expletives, surely almost in unison we'll allude to the tonnes and tonnes of downside 2020 brought upon us versus whatever trickles of upside that may have been perceptible and/or visible, if at all.  Regardless, we are duty bound to look at things both as a half-full and as a half-empty glass as well because at the end of the day, we gotta chalk it up to experience, taking the bad with the good, once bitten, twice shy,

Oh yep, THE WORLD IS TEMPORARILY CLOSED.  Until when ?  Only GOD knows.  Meanwhile, what have we learned in 2020 ?  There were just one too many myths debunked.  The MYTH that the western world are the privileged ones whereas the third world are the under-privileges ?  That MYTH has been debunked !  341k deaths in the U.S. 427K deaths in Europe.  That's including the repressive regime of Putin's Russie where officially, they declared 55K deaths whereas was surfacing [just yesterday] is that the real deaths in Russia numbered 10x to 550K.

In a nutshell, that great divide between the western world and the third world is a myth debunked after all.  This pandemic spared no one, this being a global malaise and not any single country can be shielded from this pandemic. Another myth debunked is that scientists are at the forefront of medical science, positioning them to give us a heads-up if a pandemic of this magnitude is looming.  Instead, it was the late Nigel Watts, the acclaimed author who wrote his 4th novel in a span of 25 years, only to release it in 1995.  In that spine-tingling novel, Watts boldly predicted that eventually, the people will mobilize to save our planet BUT it will be our millennial children [and not us the guilty adults] who will be at the forefront to fight against a world their parents did create to save their own future,

With tourism travel now at a total standstill, we turned to virtual tourism. And for now, the Kogi, an ancient people living in the remotest parts of Northern Colombia are, more than ever, they are determined to  retain their traditional culture in the midst of our modern world.  And their stern message ?  If we continue behaving the way we are, the planet will get sick and ultimately, it's us who'll get sick. 

But even before Covid-19 became a full-blown pandemic, 2020 did literally did start with a bang when that small remote Taal Volcano spew out all its anger, enveloping the nearby towns with nothing else but volcanic ashes.  What this tells us is that against nature, mankind is inutile and defenseless.  We can only be in reactive mode, rebuild and repair thereafter.  

In retrospect, why can't our mother earth offer us the serenity and splendid beauty of Taj Mahal with these swarms of birds fluttering their stretch wings while President Trump and FL Melania Trump did pay tribute to its beauty.  Which regrettably reminds me of our frustration of setting foot at Taj Mahal more than a decade ago during our year-long stay in India [no thanks to the Indian bureaucracy which required us to fly off to New Delhi just to extend our soon-to-expire visas at that time].

Or why can't we be like Prince Harry and Meghan who defied the world and shunned off the cruel media who made mountains out of molehills.  At the end of the day, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and with baby Archie [their first born] are living the life of their lives,  Just yesterday, they launched their podcast which was all about LOVE LOVE LOVE.  Oh, sprinkling our sordid situation with these bright notes in our lives !

To quote this enticing poster: ' Each year-end marks a new beginning.  To keep your spirit and determination unshaken, always have the faith and the courage to achieve everything you desire.  Ironically, what's grabbing the headlines of late ? It's vaccines vaccines and vaccines.  But before we end up in a false sense of security, till to date, medical scientists kept harping that even after [IF EVER IF AT ALL] you get vaccinated [lucky you are if you within the CORRIDORS of POWER in that Southeast Asian country where authorities are feigning ignorance as to why the close-in security of the head of state were so blessed to be vaccinated [4 months ago].  Ironically, to these powers, the end justifies the means, even if the vaccines were not cleared, not vetted and in fact, they were smuggled !@#  Whatever is the real score, let's continue to cling to the age-proven adage that when you're down, there's no way to go but up.  HAPPY NEW YEAR and keep yourself and your families safe from this pandemic.💥