The Great Cry of 2020. Are we listening?

Oh my. What a year. Something. Something is speaking.

Can you hear it? It feels like the skies are screaming. Something out there, whatever you believe in (you beautiful soul on the other side of this screen). Whether it’s God, The Greater Universe, Dharma, whatever, whoever, can you hear it too? Something is speaking to us. 

We need to transform. Now and forever. 

2020 has brought with it a cataclysm of crisis. That’s what the news says. That we are experiencing separate but interrelated things. The media try to give each crisis its allotted space and time. But they forget. About the knots. That tie each together. They forget. About the knots. In our throats. 

We are all screaming back. Through the formats of our modern lives, we are trying to translate it all to each other. On posters. On Instagram. In email. At 2am on wooden floors, spilling our uncomfortability out in tears, with warm rum, at digital ‘HouseParties’.

We need to transform. Now and forever. 

A mirror is being pushed so close to the nose of humanity we can barely recognise ourselves. We don’t like what we see. Our scars and intend to harm are on display. The cars are parked. It is meant to be quiet. Calm. But the streets are echoing.

We can’t just be pointless, pretty, and polite now. 

Those who know me (and I mean really know me) know I am somewhat obsessed with the human condition and what it means to be on this earth. I am always looking for ways to feel okay here. Amidst the traumas, truths, and the terrible shortness of it all. For me personally, this year feels scrubbed raw. Like the first time in adulthood we have been allowed to crack our ribs open and shine our souls and sorrows in public. 

We don’t have to be pointless, pretty, and polite now. Since the start of this year I have been trying to listen to what we are being told. I don’t know about you, but three clear messages have been reverberating against the atmosphere for me.

As the year started in flames and Australia burned, something bellowed ‘RESPECT YOUR PLANET’. 

We all heard it. I know we did. Millions upon millions of people gathered, grieved and spoke directly to our governments. Millions upon millions of people reminded us that we have been reminded, and reminded, and reminded, (and reminded) with proven warnings of Climate Change. Millions upon millions of people said they would stand by and for a different way of energy production. We are ready. Millions upon millions of people said enough is enough.

Planet not Profit was written in the sky.

February rolled around and as we feared for our bodies and the bodies of our loved one, something sung ‘RESPECT YOURSELVES’.

As the coronavirus pandemic spread, plane to plane, ship to ship, office to office, most of us were told to put ourselves first. Tools down. Go home. Most of us were sent a message that our lives mattered beyond our productivity. That was new. We hadn’t heard that song in so long. But the melody felt right. Alongside the deep tragedies and too many lives cut too short, came a brand new understanding of ‘taking care’. We saw our caregivers and caretakers possibly for the first time. We really spoke to our families. The silence shone a spotlight on the parts of society that don’t matter, don’t work, and are designed in bad faith. 

People not Profit was written in the sky. 

By May as we came face to face with the evil among us and within us, something howled ‘RESPECT EACH OTHER’.

We broke. We couldn’t hide behind our own bullshit anymore. George Floyd was murdered in broad daylight. Like so many many many many before him. He called out. And we heard him, but too late. Much too late. We felt disgusted by what we had built. Power in so many unworthy places. Power to cause so much unwarranted pain. Pain. Pain. And more pain. Look what we do to each other? Look what we have allowed ourselves to build? Look at where we hide.

Peace not Profit was written in the sky. 

Can you hear it? 

Something is speaking. It hurts because most truth really does. We have been told and told and told. And we are still getting it wrong. 

We have allowed processes, groups, companies, governments to take on faces, personalities, earn trust, and speak (constantly). We have built them platforms, and let them make the rules. Like Kings. We have built Kings. That are not only inhuman. But inhumane. 

We are following in the footsteps of systems that don’t adhere to the bare basics.

Respect yourself. Respect each other. Respect the planet. 

Tools down. Let’s listen. Let’s look. With 2020 vision. It’s time.