Some 20 years ago, at the start of this century (and the new millennium), organizations and countries enthusiastically took up a new term – Vision 2020 – to provide an umbrella for ambitious plans for a grand and prosperous future. And let’s admit it, 2020 with its alliterative ring, sounded so promising, so energetic, and yes …. So visionary! Little wonder then that everyone loved this expression.

But then, like a marriage doomed to fail from the start, the history of the world became one long series of disasters and crises – 9/11, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Fukushima, Arab Spring, would-be immigrants drowning in the Mediterranean, genocide of Rohingyas, Donald Trump, and finally, COVID-19. And in between, other wars, other epidemics like bird flu, SARS and H1N1, other brutalization of humanity in places like Palestine, Kashmir and Yemen, forest fires, and so many cyclones and hurricanes that by mid-2020 forecasters had to resort to the Greek alphabets (Alpha, Beta) because available storm names had been exhausted.

While all this was happening, capitalism flourished like never before, with the number of millionaires and billionaires soaring, stock markets outperforming each other, consumerism reaching insane levels, and so on. Yes, there was a major hiccup with the global financial crisis of 2008, but overall in the 2 decades leading up to 2020, the world lived recklessly like there will be no tomorrow, creating colossal amounts of greenhouse gases and pollution and non-biodegradable waste. All this came at a huge cost, paid for mainly by Mother Earth in terms of losing about 200,000 acres of rainforest every single day, extinction of species, rise in ocean levels, fastest ever melting of glaciers and icebergs, global warming and climate change, unprecedented floods and equally unprecedented heatwaves.

This cycle of wanton, hedonistic self-destruction would perhaps have carried on beyond 2020, except that at the start of the year, a previously little known city in China, Wuhan, suddenly started (in)famous for spawning the deadliest virus known to mankind in at least the past 100 years. And suddenly that magical sounding year 2020 became the worst possible nightmare of the entire human race; a nightmare which, even as 2020 comes to an end refuses to end itself.

Just as at the start of the pandemic, many stupidly believed that COVID-19 was ‘just another type of ‘flu’, many at the end of the year actually believe that as soon as 2020 ends and year 2021 starts, the pandemic will suddenly vanish; as if it has an expiry date of December 31, 2020!

Not only is the pandemic not ending across the globe any time before end 2021, but COVID-19 will by no means be the end of pandemics. The WHO’s head of emergencies, Mike Ryan stated at the organization’s final media briefing for the year that “This is not necessarily the big one. This is a wake-up call ….. we live in an increasingly complex global society. These threats will continue.”

There you go. Have you ever heard a more sobering thought?

So, what is to be done as we enter 2021? Some Vision 2020 ‘visionaries’ are already busy writing up Vision 2030 and even Vision 2050. Hopefully they will derive and incorporate vital learnings from the earlier experiment of Vision 2020, which largely flopped, as we can see now in retrospect. But how should we as individuals be visioning for 2021?

Well, much can be said on this. But to try to keep it short, here goes:

1. Accept that COVID may not be totally over for another year. So don’t go lax on the safety measures; keep wearing the mask, avoid crowded places, stay 6 feet clear from everyone, wash hands frequently, exercise regularly, eat the right foods that build immunity.
2. Accepting COVID will still be around also means that nothing is served by going into depression. So keep spirits up and stop thinking about it all the time!
3. Give a lot of time to your family, especially your parents and elderly relatives. Don’t regret later after they have left this world that you wish you had spent more time with them.
4. Don’t waste your lives on trivialities. Get into activities that expand your mind and are healthy for your body.
5. Realize that you absolutely must live your life not just for yourself but also for others less fortunate around you. There is huge spiritual uplift in doing good for others.

And to end, I will repeat the beautiful quote which is at the top of this post, and which explains my point 5 above better than anything else. It is by Dr. Jane Goodall, a living saint amongst us. Google her to find out who she is and how she has lived her life and continues to do so, even in old age.

“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”