Oh, what a tangled web we weave…. As the story goes, towards the end of last year – 2019, and 2020 were sitting around talking about the upcoming transition, making sure nothing got dropped between the years. As 2019 wrapped up the conversation by sharing, “… so 2020 that’s about it, as years we just want to keep things moving forward and not bring too much craziness into our charges’ lives, you know, it’s ok to rattle them a little – but try to keep things fairly quiet.” When out of the blue, 2020 stared manically into the ether and slowly said “I don’t want to be normal, I want to be special – you were relatively boring and you won’t be remembered – I want to be the most remembered year there ever was.”
This was very concerning to 2019 as 2019 quickly steered the discussion toward reason, calmness, and Zen. 2020 was not buying any of it. The more they spoke, the more 2020 became increasingly obstinate and determined; as 2019 faded all they could hear was 2020 screaming “PEOPLE WILL REMEMBER ME!”
As I sat down with 2020, I was able to ask them to help clarify a few things. They did not have a great answer to my first question – which admittedly was more of a rant on my part. The question went something like “what do you have to say for yourself in creating so much death and destruction with wildfires, social unrest, protesting, looting, divisiveness, disrupting every one of our traditions, and robbing us of extended family and friend’s togetherness. What was extremely annoying, during this time, was 2020’s penchant for mumbling and staring off into the distance. In a childish rhythmic mimicking voice, 2020 would quietly say “check” after I mentioned each one of the transgressions.
It was clear that 2020 was disturbed and not a good steward of the tradition of “years.” Emotions got the better of me, and I did get fairly upset, as I continued to question 2020 with them having no satisfactory answer to my questions. The only semblance of regret I heard was when 2020 paused and said “yeah, maybe the murder hornets were a bit much.”
As we were finishing our discussion, I explained that I would do my best to convince people they should not focus on 2020. We should be thankful for some of the good things that may have happened during the year – like getting closer to our co-workers and their families as we join video calls, coming together for charities and the less fortunate in new and innovative ways, welcoming the bright lights in our lives to the world (new babies, kids, grandchildren). I suggested to 2020 that we may not even mention their name in the future – maybe refer to them as MMXX or “the year that should not be named.” I did take solace in the fact it seemed to upset MMXX. However, as I was leaving – they hit me with one last zinger as I was saying I “hoped they disappeared quickly.” MMXX looked up with a somber face and the slight hint of a smile and said “… have I mentioned the Aliens?”
BC