Farewell, 2020, and No Regrets

By Jun Song

“2020 was a terrible year!” is a phrase that most of us can agree on. To be fair, terrible things did indeed take place. The Hong Kong protests, the police brutality, the large fires around the world, the millions of animals that lost their lives and habitats, war tensions, and the infamous Coronavirus. A million people have died from coronavirus, and millions more die because of natural disasters and diseases. We can easily say that this year was one of the worst years we’ve ever experienced. For both teachers and students, it has been an extremely uncomfortable and sad year. We are separated from each other. People avoid each other everywhere we go. The Coronavirus has disconnected us and for some of us, it has taken away our most important friends and family. Despite all this, let’s look at 2020 and our first semester of online school in an objective way.

Of course, 2020 wasn’t a great year, but it wasn’t the worst year ever. Plenty of terrible war crimes and natural disasters happened in the past, and I think we all understand that 2020 was a lot more gentle compared to those topics. It’s easy to think our present situations are worse than what people have experienced before, but I’m sure we’ll be able to look back someday and laugh about it and realize how many good things happened this year.

Online school is definitely inferior compared to the physical school. Yet, we’ve learned a lot through it. We’ve learned that we can actually do school far apart from each other, and I think we can start to appreciate how much better it is to go to school in real life. Although I feel like I’ve done a lot worse in online classes rather than physical ones, I still see it as an achievement that I was able to make do with what I had. I think everyone should give themselves a pat on the back for making it this far. I think we can learn a lot from online school too. The interactions with the teachers were much different from physically being there with them, surveys were held more often than before ,giving us the impression that the teachers tried to understand their students more. Also, we’ve learned a lot of neat tricks--Google Classroom itself could become a regular thing if some teachers found it to be more convenient. The assignments were clearly listed and homeworks could be handed in easily. This Gmail system gives us all direct contact with each other. Overall, it was a learning experience for everyone, and I hope some things we did this year can be applied to the upcoming years.

The seniors were very admirable this year, creating new ideas to entertain themselves and the students of Wesley in ways that were never seen before. The corn dog idea seemed overwhelming, but the seniors somehow pulled it off anyway. The online kick-off seemed like a really boring idea, but the seniors somehow made it interesting. The seniors this year seem like they do things for the whole of Wesley while also having fun. Out of the many senior classes we’ve had throughout the years, I can confidently say (from what I’ve experienced) the class of 2021 is one of the best and most creative.

Even after all of that, if you’re still feeling a bit gloomy, just remember, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV). Don’t worry, don’t fret; you are in the protection of the Lord. Nothing can go against us, and we will make it through all with God. If He is for us then who can be against us?