Four days before Christmas 2020, I gave the kids the keys to the laptop. Within the day, they found a website where they could make an animation, then, unprompted, did a 36-second video about The End Of The World. This is actually the video they made me shoot, in case their work didn’t save.

Around this time, I had independently been thinking about the end of the world. More specifically, my thoughts started with the local Classic Rock station playing REM’s It’s The End Of The World As We Know It. At first I was annoyed that this was classified as Classic Rock. It’s a classic and it’s (alternative) rock, but that doesn’t make it Classic Rock, amiright? Anyway, my thoughts turned to actually listening to the words and catching there’s a Trump mention in a song that came out in 1987. Sort of. In the song it’s actually “trumped”. Still, there are things that seem wildly prophetic in the jumble of words Michael Stipe squeezes into this alternative earworm.

This bunch of things made me consider this month The End Of The End Of The World As We Know It. There are 2 big world events that mark this, which you may have heard about 😉 :

1. The vaccine
2. A new US President

These world events mark some reasons to hope, and while I wouldn’t pin all my hopes on these for a brighter future, they certainly shed a more hopeful glow for us after the 2020 many of us have had around the world.

Let’s Talk!

In my country, Canada, Thu Jan 28 is Bell Let’s Talk Day which is, as far as I’ve gathered, a day for us to check in on each other’s mental health and make sure we’re all okay. This may be especially true coming out of the year we’ve had since the last Let’s Talk Day, which should lend itself naturally to a number of topics of conversation. I’m posting about it a day early as it may be the only time I’m ever early for something, and because I believe good focused conversation is worth planning ahead for. If you for some reason need some conversation starters, though, here are some I’m thinking about:

• How’s your “End of the World” 😉 year been? Looking back, what did you gain or learn?
• How’re you doing now? What kind of help could you need to be in a better place?
• Looking ahead, what are you hopeful for?

The world’s new horizons are a case-in-point of reality that exists, but can’t be enjoyed by all quite yet (examples: having a vaccine exist won’t get into my arm until July according to my province’s scheduled rollout which may now be threatened, and American politics won’t be undone overnight). On top of this, I have my own new horizon that I’m waiting on, which I hope to be able to divulge in coming weeks.

So the world as we knew it kind of ended, kind of paved the way for a new way forward, and we sit in anticipation for good things in 2021 and beyond. Discuss! 😉

 

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So now what do we have to say for ourselves?…

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