Well, it’s been quite a year!
It’s been a year like no other for me, both personally and professionally, and also an unprecedented year for the rest of the world. COVID-19 has derailed the lifestyles that we knew. In its wake, we are left with changed priorities, skills, and understandings. We have learned about ourselves, our families, society, and the world. Some changes have been positive, some concerning, and others catastrophic. This virus has highlighted inequities, pitfalls, possibilities, and potential. What have we learned that we can carry forward to make our lives and communities better in 2021 and beyond?
As a teacher, I’ve seen incredible differences in the ways curriculum can be delivered. I’ve been forced to think even more about what we expect from our education system, about whose needs aren’t being met, and why. I’ve been confronted by the hypocrisy of school boards, caught between efficiency and equity. Caught between liability and practicality. Caught between accountability and the actual education of children. The pitfalls of beaurocracy have been utterly exposed. In October, I nearly resigned my position, which would have ended a twenty-year career in public education. I felt I could not in good conscience continue to work for a system where common sense was ignored and bureaucratic decisions were made without concern for health, safety, equity, or pedagogy. Thankfully, the decision at stake was reversed, and I am happily still employed, but that experience has changed me and the way I view my work in fundamental ways.
As a Canadian, I have watched horrors unfold with our closest neighbours. I have followed American news, with the emergence of a global pandemic, protests following the shooting of George Floyd, and the almost absurd political situations that unfolded over the year. I have considered how these issues compare in Canada. What are we doing right, and where are we left wanting?
Overall, I’ve been proud of how our various levels of government have responded to the COVID crisis – it hasn’t been perfect, but I am satisfied that we’ve handled it well. I am thankful that I am not the one making decisions with such large implications for so many. Whatever shortcomings we’ve shown, I do feel like our response has been more co-ordinated, responsible, and effective than our neighbours to the south.
On racial issues, I think the comparison is less flattering. We like to think of ourselves as a very enlightened and tolerant society, but I think that our pride and self-congratulation gets in the way of seeing clearly where the problems still lie. In an anti-racism discussion group, I’ve seen a wide range of awareness and enlightenment, and that’s within a group committed to bettering our own understanding of the issues. On Facebook, I see plenty of evidence that we aren’t so far along the road to equity as we’d like to think. Perhaps the trickiest thing about racism is its insidiousness. It’s hard to change and hard to stop… partially because it’s so hard to see.
As for the election, I am relieved to see a changing of the guard, but I was incredibly alarmed to see how close the vote split was. There is danger and disillusionment in a country so deeply divided. But then my husband pointed out that given the chance, we would likely have a similar outcome in Canada. That made me think… and I think he might not be wrong.
As a parent, I’ve seen my family blossom under the COVID restrictions. I feel guilty when I think about how hard this pandemic has been on so many people – destroying families, businesses, hopes, and dreams. But for us, this slowed pace has been a respite from the craziness we were used to. I have enjoyed being at home more, with fewer meetings and appointments. I have benefited from virtual conferences, which mean that one-hour meetings take one hour, without travel time and the random socialization that used to stretch one-hour meetings into two-and-a-half-hour commitments. We miss the social and physical benefits of hockey, but we are enjoying the respite from having to rush across the city to be at a game at 5:30 on a Friday night. We don’t miss dragging hockey bags in and out of a frozen car early Saturday morning. Online shopping was a revelation for me. We worked hard to shop locally, and I enjoyed finding new shops to support from the comfort of my bedroom, without the fight for parking spaces and crowded malls. Christmas just seemed easier this year, with less to do and more time to do it. Sure, we missed the social contact and having a bustling Christmas, but it was nice to have a break that was actually restful, with time to connect at home, without the pressures of venturing out as a family.
But perhaps the biggest lessons have come from seeing how much we can change. Two years ago, the prevailing attitude was that workers could not work effectively from home, that we could not reverse environmental degradation, and that a person’s worth could largely be measured by economic success. Over the past year, we’ve seen that working from home offers many benefits – to workers, organizations, and the environment. We’ve seen that change can happen overnight if the stakes are high enough. In the spring, when the whole world shut down almost overnight, we saw immediate positive impact on the environment. We are beginning to recognize that we can live without professional sports and global travel, but not without groceries and garbage collection.
We’ve seen that the highest priority of public education is free and consistent childcare. That every system is designed to support capitalism. That nations are divided around the need for economic stability and the need for safe and healthy citizens. We’ve been forced to think outside of the box. We have found innovative ways to celebrate birthdays, to deliver church services, and to stay connected without contact.
We’ve seen that when the rat race slows down, people are free to see and process what is going on in the world around them. George Floyd was not the first Black man to be publicly killed by police. The timing of his death helped make that event the catalyst for change that had previously been missing. People were becoming more aware of the inequitable impact of COVID. Looking for meaning and antsy for change, with time on their hands and a desperation for some positive sense of control, people responded to this incident with support that had long been lacking.
So what can we take out of what seems to many to have been a disastrous year? How can we find silver linings? How can we learn from this difficult experience and move forward stronger, wiser, and more together?
For myself, I will work hard to hold onto the lessons of stillness, of rest, of prioritizing time, rather than rushing to fill every hour of my week. I am learning to trust myself and to listen for internal guidance, rather than the constant hum from the outside world. I am learning to say no, and to prioritize things that enhance my life, my family, and the world. I will use my voice to support my values.
Likewise, for my family, I will cherish the calm that has arisen in the stillness. No longer will I push my children into activities and volunteer for every committee that asks. We have learned that my younger son needs social contact and sports, but that my older son thrives more in a quiet and uncomplicated environment. My husband will continue to work from home at least part time. We will support local small businesses whenever possible.
In the broader community, I hope that we will take advantage of our new awareness of the fragility of the systems so many of us take for granted. I hope we will hold onto our anger and use it to reduce racism, in our homes, in our schools, in our communities, and in our systems. I hope that we will insist on systems that support equity, like guaranteed basic income, housing first solutions, and a fairer process of justice. I hope that we can innovate ways to support children, seniors, and those with various disabilities so that they can become valued and active members of society. I want to build a social net that includes everyone. I hope for proactive and preventative protocols that can replace reactive solutions that perpetuate the cycles of trauma that we are just now beginning to identify. It is my sincerest wish that we rebuild our economy in ways that communicate the values we claim to hold – those that acknowledge the inherent worth of all people. That we begin to ask, as a community, “How can we help?”
Globally, we must capitalize on our new learnings about the environment. We need to make this a priority, using what happened in the spring as motivation to do better, faster. We can use our new practices to support social and environmental justice. With a decreased need for people to travel to workplaces, we can lessen traffic pollution, and convert unused office space to meet critical needs for affordable housing. With reduced demand for material goods, we can redefine success in ways that support environmental protection, rather than limitless economic growth.
What has struck me most powerfully this year is the speed at which change has occurred. Schools and businesses were closed. Financial support was delivered. The arts moved online. People have learned new ways of being with each other, for social, educational, work, and community events. And these changes were immediate. How? Because we cared. Because we feared. Because the virus didn’t discriminate – it posed risk to everyone. Because change was necessary, even for the most powerful. And it makes me wonder – what if?
What if we declared poverty a global crisis? How about racism? The environment? What if we demanded that our governments take care of the most vulnerable in the way that they’ve tried to take care of all of us during this pandemic? What if we took these lessons and actually did better moving forward? What would happen? What could happen? How can we re-imagine the future, using 2020 as the restart button?
Out of the Well 