I think 2020 taught us to narrow our focus, to demand more, but to be satisfied with less. These two ideas are not contradictory, nor are they one in the same. We’ve learned to demand more transparency, more justice (well, justice—period), more time, more grace, and more space to be ourselves and free from comparison.
But we’ve also learned that less is more—an excruciatingly difficult and painful cliché to be taught, to be sure. But I’ve certainly learned how much I took for granted, and I keep reminding myself that the simple things—heat, food, shelter, love (even distant) are all I really need. I’ve also learned that I’m extraordinarily lucky to have them.
You see, I think 2020 into 2021 has taught us to distinguish the personal from the universal. Individually, we need very little. As a society, however, we need so much more. And now that we’ve found out how—and that we need—to demand it, we aren’t stopping until we get it. We’ve learned that, self-evident or not, some truths need to be spoken out loud, and honey, we’re just getting warmed up.
Amy Holt 