2020: The Year We Could Reasonably Cancel Hope. Why Didn't We?

A few years from now, historians will be able to tell, better yet, to measure and demonstrate how depressive the year of 2020 was. In light of the fact that the continuity of our species is threatened with extinction by plagues and climate crisis, we seem eager to still build a legacy our descendants might rely on. As the end of the year holidays approach but the festivities are at risk, will the holidays spirit last?

To gather is the most powerful human aspect. It has kept us alive through time, it has helped us evolve and find new ways to survive. In every culture, social gatherings are symptomatic of a people's History and it demonstrates how they operate as a society. It also assures that their cultural aspects travel through generations. We have been experiencing the abstinence of these social rituals for nearly a year now since the pandemic started and, without foreseeing an end to it, we are on the edge of our mental health. Hundreds of last-minute adjustments, thousands of deaths and millions of postponed dreams due to this year's chaotic interval. As we get used to traversing the unknown, a sense of deep reflection and decision making takes place in our lives.

People are still getting married, writing novels, having children and falling in love. Somehow, the motion of life found its way into the future. What this future will look like is less of a concern because to believe that there will be a future is what keeps us moving forward. A crisis is composed of several stages. We fear what we don't understand, we get frustrated at what we can't control, we accept what we can't change, and we mourn what we no longer have. For each stage, a hint of hope serves as a guide through each process. An instance of hope that no matter how long every stage lasts, it will eventually come to an end. Every time we lose something, it can simply be a loss, but it can also be an opportunity. An opportunity to learn, to start fresh and to be grateful.

This has been a tough year, if we can all agree on that. If so, it does sound somewhat reasonable to stop believing that things will get better, right? Well, not exactly because both can be true; however, if we are willing to build a life in this disruptive world, we might as well just hold on to hope. Because the desire for something other than ordinary to happen can be miraculous. One day, all of us will take a look into the past and we will have absolutely no idea how we made it through these current times. This article will be History, so will photos and actions and everything else we built as an attempt to make sense of all of this.

I, as many others who came to NewYork to make their dreams come true, also hope to see a friendlier version of this new world. As we say goodbye to older habits and dreams, we create new ones. And once again here we are falling in love, having children, writing novels and making new friends and new memories under the hope that, one day, this year will be just a memory we like to talk about in the gatherings at the end of the year holidays. I started writing this article under the hope of coming out of it someone different but I didn't. Somehow, the words that came were already in me and I just had to realize that. For you, who's reading these final lines right now and secretly wondered if this article was about you... It was! Because, in the end, we most certainly agree that there is no reality in which we don't overcome this year. Happy holidays, everybody!