2020 – The Year of Becoming Resilient
For those of us who survived 2020, chances are you gained the super-power of resiliency. We adapted to extreme changes in our normal lifestyles and patterns of living, working and socializing, necessitated by the pandemic. Everything seemed to change so quickly, suddenly everything shut down.
But soon, we learned new technologies like Zoom and resumed our meetings virtually. Virtual book clubs, town halls, yoga classes, visits with friends and families, even virtual medical visits. Since there were no venues for live performances – performers used their resilient superpowers to create virtual work – allowing us to enjoy safely from home.
Abigail & Shaun Bengson captured the pandemic perfectly with The Keep Going On Song
Since the radio studios had to batten down the hatches, this radio host scrambled to assemble the right equipment for recording my interview guests via zoom from home. Then I needed to amp up my audio editing chops. Stretching beyond the comfort zone and learning new skills – all good.
People saw the need for bread and a sourdough renaissance arose. Loaves of home made sourdough bread appeared fresh from ovens all over the country. Cooks who had never tried it before displayed their loaves with pride on social networks and delivered loaves to neighbors. We began to appreciate the simple pleasures in life, the smell of freshly baked bead, a walk in nature, a smile exchanged with a neighbor, singing or cheering our health care workers from windows.
We couldn’t help but be creative. Millions of workers learned to work from home, clearing the kitchen table to accommodate a laptop. Schools and teachers quickly designed curriculums so kids could study from home. University classes went virtual. We were creative, we were resilient. When people began hoarding things like toilet paper, leaving empty shelves in the stores, we retained a sense of humor as we watched the toilet paper jokes roll out. The funniest of them all was this:
Huge cracks in the very foundation of our economic and governing systems became evident. Many of our supply chains broke under the pressure. Millions of people were suddenly out of work and in danger of losing their homes and businesses. The President went golfing. – refused to wear a mask. Left it to the states to deal with the pandemic. We were on our own.
Now that the cracks in the system were visible, we began to imagine what change might look like. How would our systems function if they functioned well and served the people?
We learned about the power of misinformation campaigns to influence people to act against their own best interests and dismiss actual facts and science. As the craziness and lies became even crazier, we breathed deeply and cared for our neighbors and helped those in need.
We watched as the Pandemic took lives, then as the Police took one black life after another. This was a giant crack in the foundation of our system of law enforcement and the principle of equality. In horror, we watched George Floyd’s life drain away under a policeman’s boot.
It woke us up and we rose up. Millions of people took to the streets to protest not just in America, but around the world. Just in the month of June, more than 15 million people marched for justice. The Black Lives Matter protests became the largest movement in America’s history. We’re watching to see how things will change.
The extreme weather effects of Climate change could not be ignored. Fires and hurricanes ravaged the land and the air in many places was not safe to breathe. Governments could no longer ignore the need to take action to reduce carbon emissions. Organizations like Sonoma Ecology Center and many many others rolled up their sleeves and got to work along with thousands of volunteers and citizen scientists.
Young people around the world asked the question: Why do we continue to destroy the rare and precious planet that is our only source of life? As John Muir said, “When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.” Youth took a stand and got to work organizing.
There is no doubt that we are all connected. But if you’re not convinced that its true, here’s an astrophysicist, Neil deGrasse Tyson, to explain it.
“Recognize that the very molecules that make up your body,— the atoms that construct the molecules —are traceable to the crucibles that were once the centers of high mass stars, that exploded their chemically rich guts into the galaxy, enriching pristine gas clouds with the chemistry of life. So that we are all connected to each other biologically, to the earth chemically and to the rest of the universe atomically.
That’s kind of cool. That makes me smile. And I actually feel quite large at the end of that. It’s not that we are better than the universe. We are a part of the universe. We are in the universe and the universe is in us.” If you doubt this, you just heard it from an astrophysicist.
People began to dream of a true democracy, founded on equality and factual reality. Of a country where the rule of law applied to everyone equally. Where people valued science and facts. As the cracks were exposed, we realized that Democracy is not a noun, it’s a verb. We would need to work at it to keep it alive. So we did. Voters turned out in masses to cast their votes either by mail or at the ballot box. We voted to replace the President.
While I was recording my podcast and writing this, a rabid hive of Trump supporting terrorists, urged on by the president, swarmed the Capitol bearing confederate flags and desecrated the capitol building. Even today, there are those who are trying to destroy our democracy just to keep themselves in power. But they will lose. Why? Because we have learned to be resilient – and we are using our superpowers to keep our democracy intact. And we say, “this will not pass!”
Healing
Doesn’t it seem like it’s time for healing now? Time to heal ourselves, our earth, our systems of governance. e have the power to change how we do business. Our civilizations have been learning and evolving for thousands of years. What is the future we will create? My Friends, don’t let anyone convince you that you are helpless to create change. The power lies within you, you are starstuff after all. We are starstuff and when we unite and work together, and respect each other, there’s nothing we can’t do.
Here is an inspired comedic song born in 2020, Dessun Norma alla Corona ; aka No Corona by Daniel Emmet.
This is what I wish for you and our country right now – that we will have a Hundred Days of Light to usher in 2021.
For more music from the marvelous Bengson’s check out their website: http://bengsons.com/watchlisten/
Thank you for reading!