NaomiDelkamiller & GaeaKaan

2020 has been and will be one of the strangest occurrences throughout history, and with all the social media platforms, historians will have an interesting time researching this year’s digital footprint. The TikToks that will be shown in a classroom one day to our children and grandchildren about the great toilet paper scare is an absolutely hilarious concept. Even if we wanted to, this is a year that we won’t be forgetting anytime soon, so why not make it go down in history as the worst year in the best ways?

Remember when the 2020 New Year rolled around and we were all hopeful for new beginnings, then all of a sudden the world was on the brink of WWIII? Although it feels like an eternity ago, the increasing tension between the United States, Russia, Iran and North Korea began to raise the concern of yet another World War at the start of the year. After finally resolving seemingly petty arguments with other countries, everyone hoped the year would begin to deliver more than just worry. And yet, it somehow got worse.

Throughout the year, the Earth struggled just as much as people did, if not more, which is saying a lot because we ran out of toilet paper for a while. More than 20 percent of Australia’s forest was lost to fire and four million acres of California were left scorched, thanks to a gender reveal party. Africa was plagued by unprecedented locust swarms; severe floods impacted communities across the world and mysterious Murder Hornets decided to join the party later in August.

However, along with the hottest temperatures to be recorded in Antarctica, the United States held the highest COVID-19 cases on record. Post 2020, most of us won’t buy toilet paper without thinking about the times the shelves were empty of it or touch a stairway railing in a public building without using copious amounts of hand sanitizer. This is probably a good thing; we now know how really gross everyone can be in public, so it may be best to keep things clean and more sanitary anyway.

A record number of people took to the streets in support of racial justice, coming together to obtain justice and peace as a part of the Black Lives Matter movement. Tensions were high all across the country over a number of hot button issues, no matter what side you were on. Most of us won’t forget the video of George Floyd unable to breathe or the footage of James Scurlock’s murder. We won’t choose to relive the weeks of the 2020 presidential election or the fighting that took place on the national stage. Most of us will want to bury 2020 and move on with our lives, ready to write our New Year’s Resolution lists that will most likely be to leave our house more or find ways to make our lives healthier.

The year that has felt like it would never end is finally coming down to the wire. It is December 2020, and we are officially

nine months into a pandemic that has fundamentally changed the way we live

our lives, like a new hobby of watching Tik Tok or online shopping. Teenage anxiety spikes, cancelled plans and shutdowns were just the tip of the iceberg… which is melting, in case we forgot.  

Recapping 2020 is no easy task, and we give our best to the Google creatives who are working to create the year in review because this is not a year that most of us identify as our “best one yet.” But don’t feel bad, it wasn’t anyone’s year, unless you’re Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerburg, who are expected to make almost $85 billion more in 2020 than in previous years. 

It seems like the year has been especially difficult for the younger generation, but if there is anything to take from these past 12 months, it’s the exceptional media content that has been created for us to drown our sadness in.