Why is 2020 the best year yet?

There is no doubt 2020 has been a hectic and historic year. This year has been full of sporadic changes within our communities and country. I reflect to shortly after New Year’s Day when we all began to joke about going into World War III. Who would have thought that would have been the least of our concerns?

Following this foreign issue, Australia began to go up in flames across the continent. Innocent wildlife was killed by the blazes that cut through the continent.

Not even a month later, world famous basketball player Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna Bryant, had passed away in a helicopter crash. It was devastating to see an impactful global figure die so suddenly. 

A new virus, COVID-19, broke out causing many deaths across not only the United States but the world as well. This eventually led to economic disaster and millions of people losing their jobs. 

The virus led to a new method of learning for many institutions, including here at Maryville College. It caused many relationships to be broken and others to flourish. My dad and I bonded during quarantine through having conversations about God and the daily news conferences we watched together.

I thought 2020 could not go anymore downhill, but it did. There continued to be injustice, vandalism, and police brutality that spread across the entire nation. I remember my dad’s friend sending us selfies of him suited up as a member of the National Guard, helping to fight looters in Boston. As I was visiting my family in Oklahoma, we all felt broken watching a beautiful nation be divided and torn apart on television. 

This opened the door for the media to divide the country during a brutal election season. The polarization of some media outlets gave misinformation to people across the country and increased anxiety for many people about what our future holds.

And now we have an elected president of the United States that may not even be confirmed as our leader for months to come. 

You may be wondering why in the world 2020 was the best year yet? Well, let me tell you why.

The truth is that 2020 was the best year yet. For me, I got to lead church groups and help people flourish into new devoted followers of Christ. Many freshmen and I got to experience college for the first time like no other class will ever get to experience in history. 

Many of us helped save the world by sitting on the couch and watching Netflix. Family and romantic relationships were able to be healed and fixed in a time that made us slow down and appreciate the goodness of life. My father once told me that there is more good than evil in this world and that you can be used in the smallest moments. We as humanity must remember that in a world trying to be pulled apart and divided by just one single year because we all have a calling. 2020 has been the best year yet.