As 2020 is packaged with leftover gift wrap and a misshapen bow, let’s roll the tape on 2020 and take a look back. There’s been (a lone few) good parts and plenty we’d rather forget – like that experimental hair dye during quarantine gone wrong. We’ve been through a lot this year, and many of them are hard to believe looking back on everything that’s happened. Remember “Tiger King?”

Weirdly enough, we feel almost nostalgic about the early stages of quarantine in March and April, a time where we had nothing to do but try new things and find creative ways to pass the days – something plenty of us have never had before. In college, we are often so consumed by the “Go, go, go” mentality that we don’t stop to breathe. 

So we participated in fitness guru Chloe Ting’s ab challenge because we thought this was the time we were going to get into shape. We tried new hobbies like tie dying, baking bread, planting and anything and everything DIY – that is, if we could find scraps of materials left in stock at the store. Finding yeast or flour anywhere was a tall task. Many of us even learned completely new things, like learning a language, playing an instrument, throwing together a recipe, cutting our own hair and doing our own manicures.

Even the phrase, “We’re in this together” seems nostalgic in itself now. 

Reality soon set in. Many of us, or someone we know, lost a loved one or someone close to them was bedridden with COVID-19. The world shut down, and once those DIY activities grew stale, we were forced to truly stop for a second and reflect on ourselves. 

Many were forced to confront their inner demons, ones they were ignoring by keeping busy with work. As days started bleeding into the next, it became hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The future was looking bleak. 

All around us, the pandemic exposed deep issues in our government and economy, as the wealth gap continues to widen. The deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and countless Black Americans at the hands of police officers brought a heavy weight on us all, one that can only be defined by a sense of hopelessness, anger and fear. 

Chapman itself saw individuals like Chapman law professor John Eastman take the side of hate and division – for both questioning Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’ eligibility in her upcoming position and for representing President Donald Trump in a meritless election lawsuit swiftly rejected by the Supreme Court. Looking back on this year, it was hard to feel any sort of security when we couldn’t turn to our own university for some sort of comfort and assurance.

Nothing will magically change once the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve. Although it may be nice to idealize all of our problems disappearing at the end of the 2020 countdown, nothing we faced in 2020 will vanish in 2021. 

But now, we’re ready for it. 

Seriously. Take a second and reflect on everything that we as Chapman students and individuals have been through these past 347 days. Regardless of how bleak the world seems around us, we’ve developed the toughness, the resiliency, to promote progressive change within it. Hopefully, most of us have learned to exercise selflessness in understanding how our actions impact others. We’ve linked arms to stand up for injustices, opening our eyes to the everyday intricacies and power imbalances within structures of racism. And perhaps being away from friends and family during quarantine brought a heightened sense of gratitude for those that matter most to us. 

The year 2020 hit us hard. For all we know, 2021 might hit us even harder. But we’ll be standing tall, clinging tight to our loved ones, not afraid to roll with the punches and push back against long outdated and seemingly impenetrable institutions of inequality. 

2021, we’re ready for you.