Careers

Even 2020 will come to an end.

As we drag our shattered bodies, hearts, and minds towards the finish line of December 31st, never has the promise of the words ‘and this too shall pass’ been more welcome.

In a year without precedent, we have seen some of the best and much of the worst of times and no-one will end this year unscathed.

From initial reports of a strange illness affecting an isolated province far away to a deadly global scourge, the coronavirus has wreaked havoc on families and fortunes, be they domestic, national, or international. It has exposed weaknesses in our systems and in our leaders and shone a well-deserved light on those who quietly and bravely risk their lives every day to save ours.

It's also been a year which has seen an eruption in resistance to the notion of white supremacy and an affirmation that while of course every human being is of value, the safety and security of Black lives has never mattered more.

Pain

It’s been a year of deep, visceral loss. Many of us have said our final farewells to people we love and felt the pain of forcibly being untethered from our emotional moorings. We have watched helplessly the passing on of our fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, aunties, uncles, grandparents… each one irreplaceable, each one holding a unique place in our hearts.

Alongside the loss of those we know, we have witnessed the horrific, needless, and tragic deaths of those sisters and brothers we don’t. Black people murdered without compunction; Black lives taken without compassion.

Like the coronavirus, rampant racism has overrun our institutions and crushed our spirits, amplifying its corrosiveness through online channels and the offline chants of racists marching through our cities. The pain of racism, still deeply embedded in so many of our structures and workplace practices, has exhausted its victims, even as it still calls upon them to justify why they matter and resolve problems they didn’t create.

To paraphrase Dr Wayne Dyer: "Pandemics do not make a man; they reveal him."

Perspective

But 2020 has also brought perspective.

To paraphrase Dr Wayne Dyer: "Pandemics do not make a man; they reveal him." For all the broken, flaccid leadership many of us have experienced, we have also seen courageous and compassionate leaders, epitomised by New Zealand’s premier Jacinta Ardern who decisively steered her country through imminent peril, willing to sacrifice popularity to preserve her people.

2020 has forced us to master new skills, to adapt to new technologies and to devise creative and innovative responses to the challenges of confinement, loneliness, and mental ill-health. It has brought out a spirit of community, of ubuntu, in places that have never heard of the word.

2020 has given us a new way of seeing the world and valuing our place within it. Seeing the depth of the horrors some people experience has given fresh perspective to our minor inconveniences and gratitude for seeing a new day that many others will not. It’s brought us a new understanding of the fragility of life and a recognition of what is truly important versus what we once imagined even mattered. It’s also brought a new appreciation for people and a caution against taking for granted those we imagine will always be there.

Even witnessing the global repugnance demonstrated by the Black Lives Matter protests against the treatment meted out to people from minority communities has brought perspective. The reassurance of seeing people of all races unify to denounce the dehumanisation of some reduces the power of those who cling to hate.

So, despite the pandemic, despite the pain, despite our losses, when we reach the last day of this tumultuous year, let’s be grateful for the resilience that has carried us through to where we are. As we look ahead to another year of undoubted challenge, I can only encourage you to remember: ‘Perspective, perspective, perspective…’

Author of the novels ‘Imperfect Arrangements’ ‘From Pasta to Pigfoot’ ‘From Pasta to Pigfoot’ and ‘From Pasta to Pigfoot: Second Helpings’ and the books I Want to Work in… Africa: How to Move Your Career to the World’s Most Exciting Continent’ and ‘Everyday Heroes – Learning from the Careers of Successful Black Professionals’