We think in terms of years. We like to “book-end” history in groups of Jan-Dec, and categorize the year like it was the fault of the designated digit.
This week social media is brimming with negative comments about 2020. <Insert meme of toilet paper or dumpster fire here.> It seems to be the acceptable logic. Well, I would like to present another thought, if I may. 2020 is the year that civilization rebounded. It may very well be celebrated by GenZ and their children as the year of invention, revolution, and unity. That is, if credit isn’t given to 2021, the much anticipated sibling that really hasn’t done anything yet!
2020 has shown me is a sense of togetherness. As I write this on my smartphone, I’m sitting next to my wife in our living room beside an unlit Christmas tree. Our cat Autumn is curled up by me on the recliner. The dog (Lucky) is chomping noisily at his kibble and our daughter has slammed the microwave door a dozen times while warming up her lunch in the adjoining kitchen. It’s new year’s day 2021.
I’ve noticed in my circles that we value the small moments more than ever, and see how fleeting life can be. We say “I love you” and “stay safe” more readily, and we reach out to people we haven’t spoken to in years. We forgive and let the small stuff go. Humanity has responded and flourished.
We are growing in other ways too. Some have saved money working from home. Some homes have been improved with renovations and additions, investments have been made with the money saved, and net-worths have gone up. Even construction stores and service companies have reaped profits and grown.
In the area if growth, Tech is the obvious front runner. Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality advancements made big strides in the work-from-home surge. Nothing makes people more inventive that when faced with overwhelming demand. Our data super-highway was stretched to its limit and companies like Google, Verizon, and Comcast doubled down on infrastructure and made improvements in capacity that will fuel the 5G conversion going forward.
Augmetics and Virti are companies that responded with innovations in VR training and surgery that makes the last gen of med tech look like green-screen Gameboy from 1988. Now a surgeon can look through your CT scan in 3D mode while operating. These and other life-saving technologies are here to stay.
AbbotLabs invented the Binaxnow Antigen test in August, giving us the power to detect the presence of the virus in just 15 min. Just a few months later, we now have two FDA approved vaccines being distributed in by Pfizer and Moderna. More will come, but this marks a historic win in the battle vs the novel virus. All this took place in 2020.
Other advancements that should improve life in the next decade include those around cyber security and connectivity. Crypto currencies are surging this year, with big banks jumping into the action.
To wrap this up, I’d like to say that 2020 was a hard year for many. We lost some good people who left too soon, and that is a significant loss indeed. But 2020 wasn’t altogether bad. I believe that in the grand scheme we gained much more than we lost, and much of the gain was due to our resolve against the disruption caused by the pandemic. Unity, humanity, innovation and our will to survive have planted seeds of that will grow in ways that we can’t imagine, and this decade could be one of the best we’ve seen yet due to 2020.
