2020 has become akin to a swear word for some, a term that means the worst of years because it brought loss, isolation and knocked many people’s lives off-axis.
Good riddance to bad rubbish, people may say: 2020 is like a great grey cloud – once it’s gone, it will be a blue-sky day.
Bring on 2021.
But at risk of sounding ridiculously sunny, many good things piggybacked the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly on the Sunshine Coast.
It is healthy to look for the good in any bad situation, and it is not a long search around here.
For starters, COVID-19 hardly darkened the doorstep of the Sunshine Coast, making it a virus that affected us, but barely infected us. Above all, we must feel grateful to have escaped the waves of sickness and death that engulf the world.
When COVID-19 began its smoke-like spread and we were only allowed out in public for a specific purposes (remember that? Shopping for essential food and going to the doctor were the main ones), inactive people began moving.
We were allowed to exercise with one other outside and at a social distance. Footpaths, trails and pathways became thoroughfares of the cautious and careful and the pressure relief was palpable.
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Technology became a lifeline and we connected with each other, checking in on those we may have drifted from. The digital divide narrowed as grandma showed she could Zoom, WhatsApp and House Party like a pro.
We became champions of our local businesses and services in their modified modes and offerings. Sunshine Coasters were also reminded we perch not on the edge of a delicious smorgasbord, but with our snouts buried right into the bounty of fresh food made and grown right here.
We learnt to love our patch, to holiday at home, to feel blessed that even when we weren’t allowed to roam far, we had ocean and rivers, mountains and green spaces to play in. The environment got a bit of a breather as homes became both havens and worksites.
Medical staff and law enforcers became the heroes of the year, as they worked to keep us safe and our border sealed. Science was lauded and it put pedal to metal in conjuring vaccines as we paused, crouching in wait.
As 2020 collects its things and heads for the door, we will not mourn it.
But the Coast ends the year with consumer confidence at a 10-year high, tourism thriving while nationwide one in three young people are jobless or need more hours, here we have hospitality and retail outlets crying out for helping hands.
Hindsight is 20/20, the idiom goes, but the true meaning has been corrupted. In the Snellen fraction, 20/20 vision means having average eyesight, so let’s aim for something better.
We can never foresee the future, but we have learnt to be clear-eyed about now – and there are so many gifts in the present.
Jane Stephens is a USC journalism lecturer, media commentator and writer.
