Flipping the switch on 2020 can turn negative positive

We’ve all heard repeated ad nauseum the phrase “in these unprecedented times,” but what exactly are we doing to adapt – to provoke change?
    

One of the most recently uplifting messages that I’ve seen on social media has to do with the power of change. So many of us have cursed the year 2020, reveling in the negativity surrounding the circumstances that we find ongoing across the world. 
    

What if we changed our outlook? What if, instead of focusing on the negative, we looked a bit more optimistically?
    

The poem by aspiring writer Leslie Dwight asks us to reimagine 2020 by beginning with two questions: “What if 2020 isn’t canceled? / What if 2020 is the year we’ve been waiting for?” (lines 1-2). 
    

Flipping the negative perspective that we’ve seen across media, the poetic speaker asks us to dwell in the discomfort as a way forward through acceptance, growth and change. 
    

The poem continues: “A year so uncomfortable, so painful, so scary, so raw / that it finally forces us to grow” (lines 3-4).
    

Too often we back away from discomfort, from fear, from emotion. We shut down. We cocoon ourselves in an effort at protection. 
    

What if, instead, we reached out – we “accept the need for change” and “Become the change.” (lines 7 and 8)? 
    

Perhaps most importantly, rather than our own protective cocoons, we reach out in solidarity and community: “A year we finally band together, instead of / pushing each other further apart” (lines 9-10).
    

The world needs community. We need communal bonds and a shared mission. And, more significantly, we need solidarity, understanding and true dialogue. 
    

Without these aspects, we cannot have peace. Ignoring these common threads will only continue the divide that we see growing day by day around the world.
    

COVID-19 brought a recognition of a new normal. The ongoing pandemic demonstrates the necessity of joining together for a shared goal: humanity. It has forced us out of our comfort zones, asking us to take into greater consideration those aspects of life that we have taken for granted. 
    

Through social distancing, we’ve learned the pain of separation, and perhaps we’ve recognized our departure from community-minded society. 
    

From my own experience in education and research, it has prompted me to really consider the objectives of my classes and to find new and innovative ways to convey information and explore exciting avenues for collaboration among students in safe, yet accessible ways. 
  

In the same way, as we continue to articulate and develop this new normal, we’ve seen calls for anti-racism. 
    

The Catholic faith has always proclaimed the dignity and sacredness of all human life. The protests and unrest surrounding the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and so many other lives, lost to racism, share the same message of human dignity.
    

Again, we see the call for unity, a call to examine our treatment of others, a call to examine our own prejudices in order to promote a greater sense of justice and peace.
    

2020 has been a year of surprises, but it can also be a year of growth and change – a year in which we “band together” for the safety and sanctity of life, a recognition and celebration of diversity and difference. The new normal requires it. 
    

Dr. Heather Bozant Witcher can be reached at [email protected]