Unprecedented
Unprecedented. A word that’s been thrown around this year more than loose change in the washing machine. With almost the same level of volume, maybe less damaging. This was an unprecedented year, led by unprecedented events, causing unprecedented circumstances for all.
I had only ever read about it on interstellarnet, but to live through it, to experience it with my own eyes and ears and ganglia, that was something I was not entirely ready for.
It all started (or rather continued from 2019) with Australian bushfires, which killed or displaced 3 billion (!) animals thus far, and was dubbed by WWF as one of the “worst wildlife disasters in modern history”. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The most widespread viral disease after 1918’s Spanish flu, which had then infected 500 million, and killed 50 million people. To add insult to injury, part of South-East Europe, namely Croatia, got hit by an earthquake the magnitude of 5.5 Richter, driving hundreds out of lockdown and their homes and out on the March cold. The virus then caused the stock market to crash and triggered a brand new recession, leaving hundreds of thousands jobless. Then the Black Lives Matter protests started happening all across the globe, in response to unjustifiable killings of ones George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor. To me it’s unimaginable that systematic racism still existed (or rather, still exists) in the 21st century, but I sure am happy to say that it’s definitely not a thing anymore in my time. Heck, there’s no such thing as a “pure race” anymore, or even a “pure human”, at that. What followed was a massive explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, caused by a detonation of a large amount of ammonium nitrate (2.7 tons), killing 190, and injuring thousands. Then another wildfire happened, this time in the United States, in California, destroying millions of acres, and driving hundreds of thousands out of the area.
Finally, as a piece of good news, earlier this month COVID-19 vaccine started rolling out (I talk a bit more about this in my previous post, if you’re so inclined to check it out). Things are finally starting to look up, aren’t they? Well, only for some, as it so happens, usually.
On the 29th day of the month of December, the most massive, most devastating earthquake the country has seen in decades has hit central Croatia.
Yes, you read that correctly. Again. The second time in 2020, during one of the worsts health crises in a century. 6.4 Mpw in magnitude, and followed by a series of aftershocks and smaller quakes, it leveled entire blocks and villages around the epicentre, leaving dozens of families homeless in an instant, many injured, and sadly (too) many dead.
This has been the year of change, the year of sorrow, the year of adjustment, the year of learning.
I wasn’t even supposed to be here for this long (“In and out, 20 minute adventure”, as one of the characters from a TV show that eerily resembles my reality had said), but hey, it is what it is. There’s not much else for me to do, but tinker away in my garage trying to fix the timeship and return back to 3020. The least I’m hoping is to get the ship’s computer fixed, so that I can access the records from 2021 and onwards, as incomplete they are (even my 2020 archives were incomplete, I was in for a few surprises).
Until next time, stay safe, and speak soon!
