With 2025 about to dawn, I find myself thinking more often of those days in March of 2020 when the world turned upside down.
The declaration of the coronavirus pandemic sent us scrambling to find new ways of doing everything we had taken for granted, up until the moment when an unknown threat took our sense of normalcy away. It was, by any measure, a dark time, full of fear and stress and confusion.
What I find myself thinking about most, though, is not the darkness.
Instead I remember the light; the dawning of hope as people around the world rallied to face the new threat with a rarely seen level of global solidarity.
Across the world we watched, mesmerized, as the Their music was a glorious tribute to the triumph of the human spirit.
Even as everything changed 鈥� as workplaces shut down, schools closed, hospitals faced never-before-seen stresses 鈥� that same spirit echoed around the globe in actions big and small. People gathered at seven o'clock to bang pots and pans and cheer for health-care personnel. Residents decorated their windows with hearts for essential workers. People of all ages painted rocks and left them in gardens and parks for strangers to find. Street artists got to work creating pictures and messages of hope in public spaces. Teddy bears stood vigil in windows, waving to neighbourhood children.
Everywhere, people did their part to keep each other safe: keeping their two-metre distance in lineups, wearing masks in public spaces, stepping up to provide porch visits and deliveries to housebound neighbours. When teachers were forced to pivot to online learning, parents stepped in to help; when families faced hardship, school communities rallied to make sure they had food and daily necessities.
Amidst all the stress and chaos of those early days, there was an overriding sense of acting for the common good; we were all in it together, and it was up to each of us to do our part to look after each other.
For a brief time, it seemed that we might come out of the pandemic with a better, stronger society than we had going into it 鈥� a society in which governments, public health officials, employers and everyday citizens all recognized our shared responsibility to each other and acted accordingly.
For awhile there in 2020, I dared to feel optimistic that we were on the precipice of a better world.
We never made that leap.
Somewhere along the way, we left behind our sense that we are all in this life together. We lost the idea that a functioning society should be measured by the concern and care it demonstrates for the most vulnerable amongst us. We abandoned the ideals of solidarity, togetherness and community that carried us through those dark times in 2020.
My wish for the new year is that we find those ideals again.
As our world grows ever more polarized, ever more isolationist, ever more individualistic, we need voices to remind us of the power of togetherness. We need political leaders, health officials, business leaders and community members alike to step up and do their part to create a world where no one has to carry the weight of life alone.
In 2025, I hope we remember that our strength as a society comes not from individual gains but from compassion and cooperation in search of the common good.
Your voice may feel like just one flickering light in a world where darkness is winning. But your voice, plus my voice, plus your neighbour's voice, plus your boss's voice, plus your mom's and your dad's and your friend's and your sister's and your classmate's and your teacher's and your doctor's and your barista's and your grocery store cashier's ... all those flickering lights can keep the darkness at bay, if we can find it in our hearts to try.
A better world was right there in our grasp, and we let it get away.
Do we have the strength to try again in 2025?
Julie MacLellan is the 性视界传媒 area bureau chief for Black Press Media and the editor of 性视界传媒 Peace Arch News.
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