You can never be too sure what might be coming down the pike.
At this time four years ago, I was the editor of the Delta Optimist, a community newspaper in suburban Vancouver, and those of us in the editorial department were brainstorming to put together a piece we had dubbed ‘20 things to watch for in 2020.’
Given the alliteration the first year of the new decade provided, we figured it would be best to come up with 20 storylines that were worth keeping an eye on over the course of the coming year.
Compiling the first half of the list was pretty easy thanks to various large-scale development projects in the works, a scheduled casino opening and looming decisions on container port expansion and a replacement for the aging George Massey Tunnel. Although Delta is a city of more than 100,000 people, the second half of the list proved a little tougher as we had to dig deep to fill out the requisite number of slots.
Despite stretching our horizons and criteria, what would become the biggest story of the year — by far — wasn’t anywhere on our radar. I’d like to think that’s not so much a reflection on the intelligence of our team, but rather the fact that something so foreign to us up until that point was getting ready to smack us on the side of the head.
I can’t recall if any of us had heard of COVID-19 at that time, but even if we had, I suspect we would have viewed it in much the same way as SARS, MERS, Ebola and others that had come before it: a deadly virus, but one from a far-off land that really didn’t have much bearing on our lives here in Canada.
Less than three months later, COVID-19 was not only on our doorstep, but it had brought the entire world to a standstill.
A couple of the reporters that had been involved in that brainstorming session were soon laid off, victims of a swift and severe economic contraction few had ever experienced, as life as we knew it changed dramatically. From social distancing to hoarding to vaccine mandates, COVID-19 defined our lives for far longer than any of us would have liked.
The pandemic isn’t entirely in our rear-view, but life has largely returned to normal as we do our best to move past the physical, financial and emotional toll it extracted. As we move forward into a new year, we do so with hope, but also with a sense of trepidation as everything from the cost of living crisis to potential climate calamities continue to weigh on our society.
Yet if COVID-19 taught us anything, it’s that the biggest issue we encounter in the months ahead might not even be on our radar at the moment. Let’s hope if that’s the case, it’s of the positive variety, although I’m at a loss to come up with something at this time that would fit the bill.
In the meantime, I wish everyone a Happy New Year. At least I think it should be.
