2021 PREDICTIONS AND NEW HOPE FOR THE NEW YEAR

What’s up, MHCC students and staff? Welcome to a new year!

Let’s be frank: It’s been off to a rocky start with everything that has been going on, and it’s not all bright and sunny like we had hoped it would be. Yet, there’s still hope. We’re a month into the new year and things can still make a drastic change for the better, whether it be for everyone or simply just for us, individually.

I have a feeling we all have our predictions for how the year can go, and what may or may not happen. In reality, it’s up in the air, but it’s still a fun thing to do, so let’s give it a go, shall we?

It’s rather easy to predict nothing but good things for the future, such as “I’m gonna lose that quarantine weight” or “I’m gonna finally get my spring cleaning done early this year!” That’s not necessarily a bad thing but it’s not realistic in a sense of what the year itself could potentially bring to us as a nation.

Some predictions for us, as a whole, could be getting the COVID-19 vaccines distributed, not only safely and in an orderly and timely fashion (which finally seems to be taking place) but also getting it out to everyone. This way we can finally start getting a firm hold on this virus and begin the process of getting back to some form of normal as fast as we possibly can.

(I guess you can say that one could swing between a “goal” and a “prediction” in a sense of how I predict that that’s what our future holds – that’s also what I my goal is.)

A firm goal I have is that by spring, we are opening up schools for the younger crowd and college campuses, because even though Zoom has been a way for everyone to get some form of education, it would be amazing to be back in a classroom. I know I miss that, and it was a lot easier for me to learn what was taught in person rather than through a screen.

Another prediction/goal I have is from my personal perspective: I’m hoping that Joe Biden can uphold a lot, if not all, of what he has said and has promised, because it’s time for a change. America, through my eyes as a young, LGBT, Black person, has been going through a war, a war with itself, for far too long. We need order, we need change, and we all need to be heard – not just the ones who yell the loudest. We need a younger, more modern perspective from those people in charge, yes, but we also need to re-evaluate everything we have been doing and make some changes that would help everyone.

Another prediction for 2021 is that we will start to rebuild and unite and begin to fix damages that were done in our country; not just over the last four years, but over decades and generations. Damages that have been shoved into dark corners and ignored, or with blame placed onto others. We are already on the right track and I hope we can continue and make our nation, not perfect,

but better: Fix what’s broken, and build something new, something better than what was there before. That’s a prediction I have for this year and years to come.

The final two goals that I have for this year are, one, that we cannot put this behind us. I know that sounds weird and when I wrote this down it sounded weird to me, but hear me out: I don’t want us to forget this, this lesson that felt like a bad dream for many of us and an awakening for others. I don’t want this bit of history to ever be forgotten – not the last four years, not the riot in the Capitol, not the deaths or COVID-19, the police shootings, none of it!

I want this to be seared into our minds because this will lead to us never letting it happen again, and to changes being made – because I saw this, when Donald Trump was elected, I was worried. I saw how he acted; we all did. But now we know to never let this happen again.

My second final goal is for us to become the nation I know we are. We are strong when we are united, when we work together as one. So why not do that all the time? Our pledge says, “One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” I said this everyday as a child, and I meant it. One day I plan to serve my country, in the Navy or perhaps another military branch, but I have to ask, why can’t we ever unite?

Most goals are simple – to lose weight or to binge watch a show – but I want my goals for all of us to have things better for us. We have fallen, in my eyes, and I want us to unite and be strong again, like any child wants to see their parental figure be strong.

I have hope that this year will be great and that we will do amazing things, both as a nation and individually.

Have a happy Winter Term, folks and be safe out there – we’re still in a pandemic, after all!