"This is the worst year humans have ever lived through"

 So 2020 is almost over and as many people point out on all forms of social media "it is the worst year ever!"  I have read and watched videos of people claiming that Covid, loss of jobs, economic impact, and everything else we have dealt with is the worst thing to ever happen in human history.  So I spent the past few days pondering on such claims and really examining what could make this the worst year ever, here are my findings.

As the world got hit with a worldwide pandemic many countries took a strong stance of locking everything down to slow the spread of the virus.  Some countries chose not to do this.  Since I live in America I wanted to focus specifically on how the virus has made this the worst year ever.  Here in America we were running head first into an already heated election cycle.  The vast majority of the media had taken a side and began to run only stories to hurt the sitting President.  The other candidate was a 70 something man who was obviously in cognitive decline, but the media denied this and said he was the one to save us from the virus.  In March our government said we needed to lockdown for 15 days to slow the spread of the virus, most of us were ok with that because we understood our hospitals and medical supplies needed to have time to be fully prepared for the impact of the virus.  So we as obedient citizens closed our businesses, left work, cleared shelves of toilet paper and began the 15 days of sleeping in, watching Netflix, and hanging on ever update about the virus.  That 15 days got extended to 30, then 45, and here we are 8 months later with a lot of us still unemployed and businesses closing permanently (The one exception of course were big fish like Amazon and Walmart who have made millions leaning towards trillions while people struggled to pay bills).  Our kids schools have been closed and some parents forced to choose keeping a job and allowing their kids education to suffer or quitting the job and become a full time home school parent.  For a majority of us the financial impact is where we got hurt the worst.  In the end the media spread scare tactics and people ate ever last drop of it.  So what made the year so bad for us as Americans?  We have gotten to spend more time with our spouses and children, we have gotten to take that time to reaffirm faith, help other people as much as we could, and have the time to enjoy the fruits of our freedoms.  For me that isn't so bad.

The next step I took was looking into what scientists say was the worst year or period of time ever.  The most current article I can find came in 2018.  Some believed 1347 was as the black plague began to ravage the world.  Some said 1941-1945 when the holocaust happened.  1918 when the flu pandemic started which killed over 100 million people worldwide was another.  In the end they settled on 538, why this year?  That year a mysterious dusty fog appeared blocking the sun, causing temps to plunge and setting off years of around-the-world chaos.  Drought, crop failure, summertime snow in China, and widespread famine.  So at that time people didn't have Netflix and were not being asked to sit on their couches and wait it out.  People literally struggled to find food and survive!  

My point in this whole thing is asking people to take a step back and put this year into perspective.  You did not have to fight genocide, famines, droughts, plagues, great depression, or any other major event that the world has lived through.  You were asked to wear your jammies, watch TV, wear masks, and wait.  To me that makes this year one of the best years we have lived through.  Because of my job I have not had that luxury.  I have continued to have to go to work, battle the stores (So my spouse and kids did not have to take the risk), and most of all listen to all you entitled and self indulged asshats complain about masks or no mask, needing another series to watch on Netflix, why is this protest a virus spreader and this other one isnt, and most of all listen to all the bullshit theorists and non-fact scientists debate something we simply have no control over and have to wait out.  The only thing that made 2020 bad for me was you idiots.  Outside of that this year has been ok.  Sure I have to do things differently when I go into public.  Sure some of my favorite places have closed for good.  But in the end I got to see the true nature of this generation of people.  I got to cut people out of my life that I might disagree with but due to Covid realized they are not and will never be rational.  In the end my personal relationships have grown and I feel closer to my family than any previous year.  My only fear leading into the future is how all of the things I mentioned above will impact our stability as a civilization.  How those divisions will hurt our future.  But as many TV shows used to say stay tuned!