2020 Vision…The Vision We Needed
By Selena A. Rodgers Dickerson
I did not go to watch night service, but I prayed.
I did not wait up for fireworks or to watch the ball drop.
I did not cook or eat collard greens and black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day, nor did I do laundry, clean the house, or ask my husband to go outside and walk back in the house to fulfill the requirements of superstition to have a man walk in the house first. Instead, I slept in, played with my daughter, watched football, responded to the massive group texts, and per my usual, I worked. Periodically throughout the day, I checked social media that had been infiltrated with resolutions, “New Year, New Me” posts, and the reoccurring theme of 2020 Vision. There were posts for vision board parties, pastors preaching about 2020 vision, people planning their purpose with stickers in their Focus Planners, the Daniel Fast, and day 1 of all the New Year’s resolution workouts. People had hope.
Hope for clarity.
Hope for relationships.
Hope for health and wealth.
Hope for their businesses, families, children, education.
Hope for vision…2020 Vision that would give them the insight to overcome their obstacles, use self-care, see what God wanted them to see so they could do what God wanted them to do.
People had hope. People were happy.
That was life before Covid-19 (B.C.). We all know what happened next.
The world stopped. Grocery shopping became an act of bravery.
Toilet tissue and Lysol became priority commodities.
Masks became a part of our fashionable wardrobes.
Sweatpants, t-shirts, and socks became the new business attire.
Medical staff and first responders sacrificed a life with their own families and stayed in hotels to save the lives of strangers.
Businesses closed.
People lost jobs.
Grandparents gave air hugs from the window.
Schools at every level closed.
Graduations were held via a tiny camera and an app.
Kindergarteners began their first experience in “big kid” school via an iPad.
Zoom overload became a thing.
Pelotons as well as gun sales soared.
The term “drive-by” took on a new meaning as it enlisted birthday parties as well as funerals.
People died. So many people died. We lost heroes.
People across the world died from Covid-19…overwhelmingly so for people of color.
The world watched people dying while committing no crimes at home, jogging, and by knee. Tears fell. People mobilized.
Protests, peaceful and violent, erupted and statues were removed. We watched those things happen too.
Baseball, that almost didn’t happen, had a doctor throw out the first pitch while basketball delivered a message from a bubble, and football apologized.
We watched.
We watched.
We watched.
My God, what a year we’ve had.
We watched the world we were familiar with change daily before our eyes. The blinders were taken off and the astigmatism was corrected. For some, our way of thinking was changed, while others way of thinking was revealed. Some people lost friends to death as well as social differences.
Juneteenth was given life!
Even kids marched in the streets!
HBCUs gained even more legitimacy with the first woman, a Black woman graduate of an HBCU was elected. People stood in the rain while in masks to vote early.
Change agents emerged.
Corporations publicly stated that a paradigm shift “for the culture” was needed and embraced equity as well as equality.
We made this history.
Our cities, our nation, our world emerged. We became “for the people” in ways many of us could have ever imagined. No, every problem wasn’t solved, nor was every dream deferred. We the people overcame, we reached out to help each other, we believed, and the greater persists. We are more than conquerors. Our faith has kept us. Our resilience has encouraged us to keep moving forward despite the circumstances. We still have hope.
We all had our dreams of what 2020 would be for us, but my friend, do not be dismayed. We may not have received the 2020 vision we expected, but maybe, through it all, we got the 2020 vision we needed.
Happy New Year!
Sincerely,
Selena Rodgers Dickerson
#SelenaRD
#BeTheBlessing
#2020Vision
