By Basia Alicia Powell
I remember being a part of several business meetings in the Caribbean between years 2008 and 2010 and the buzz words were, “Vision 2020” and “2020 Vision”. Our leaders were filled with excitement about the start of what was touted to be a landmark decade. This excitement was also accompanied by plans for a state-of-the-art physical transformation of our cities.
These meetings left me feeling pressured and a bit insecure about my own transformation. Afterall, I had to step up my game as an entrepreneur, to be “2020 ready”. It made me think bigger about my own personal vision. After all 2020 would be a magical start to a new decade.
Needless to say, when 2020 rolled up, and yours truly realized that she made it, and I had checked off some major dreams from my personal vision board, it was cause for celebration. 2020 was finally here, and boy did it come in with a bang! Then, the year started with the tragic passing of NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter Giana, and the passing of many other family friends. Little did we know, that it was the sign of worst things to come.
This year confirmed for me, that there is no such thing as a perfect vision (“2020 vision”). Since 2020 roll up, life has not been the same for us. This was not the vision we had anticipated nor the one we imagined. The year 2020 looked nothing like how it was packaged in my “high powered” business presentations, a few years prior. In fact, no presentation I was a part of predicted this unbelievable nightmare, that has plagued all of our lives. I have never seen anything like this.
Nevertheless, I feel like there is a hidden beauty behind this landmark year. It’s almost as if a cleansing is taking place and there is nothing we can do to disrupt the flow. The year 2020 arrived with a vengeance, and it is showing us all that we are not in control. Not even the most powerful leaders and brilliant minds/ scientists knew what was about to hit us. If 2020 has anything to do with a vision, it came to fix all of our eyesights. We are being forced to see each other in a whole new way. 2020 came to teach us some lessons, Have we learned anything? Everything that we became complacent about is being disrupted. The pandemic took lives, jobs, and homes. Racism, bigotry, hate and all forms of inequality are under attack. We are now more appreciative of human contact, something we all took for granted.
Prior to 2020, many of us were looking forward to further advancement in technology and infrastructure. However, 2020 had other plans. It came to restore humanity, equality, love and kindness. This new era came matching in and ordered us to examine our vision in order to take a good look at ourselves. It made us spend more time with our loved ones and showed us who we are and most of all, who we are surrounded by.
So maybe, the year 2020 was about advancement after all. However, in order for us to make significant progress, we needed to remove the darkness in order to have “2020 Vision” . The world was not necessarily in a good place when 2020 arrived. The problem is, we started to accept all the hate and evil among us as if they were the norm. My point is, nothing is wrong with 2020. It’s just a year. However, 2020 has forced us all to stop and refine our vision, in order for us to see that something is actually wrong with the us, and how we see each other. People are desperate for life to go back to normal. Be careful what you wish for. Do we really want to return to normal? Think about that. The arrival 2020 was able to increase our visions and expose racial and gender equality in a way that it has never been done before. The blind can now see. The lights have been switched on to increase our visions. We now see each other and the stains of our past. Life will never be the same, and quite frankly I am glad. We are now forced to pay attention to each other for the greater good of all. And that is real advancement! Its is my ” 2020 Vision”
Blessings
Basia💞
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