If 2020 were a hula hoop, it'd be a roll of barbed wire...

If 2020 were a hula hoop, it would be a roll of barbed wire.
Strong, pointy, painful wirey wound around itself forming a tight coil.
No give. No soft spots. No weaknesses. Just strong, highly functional barbed wire doing a great job at working as a painful obstruction keeping peace, joy, and smiles away.

From the start, it seems us humans have collectively been fighting the unknown forces to exist and stay alive:

And then there are the selfish individuals who don’t want to wear a facemask or stand 1.8m away from others. Like seriously folks, who cares if you believe in covid19 or not, stranger danger means stay out of my personal space bubble. Also, some people are really stressed out by this disease. Make it easier for them by just wearing a mask and standing away from their shadow. It’s really not hard to be considerate and nice.

On the flipside, there have been some really wonderful things as well, like the birth of my niece. We’ve also had breakthroughs in the heavens with a solar eclipse this year, the discovery of the first black hole located in a star system, NASA successfully launching Mars 2020 rover mission to explore the environment of Mars, and the first manned NASA spacecraft since 2011 was successfully launched and is currently watching the chaos in planet Earth unfold from the peace of the International Space Station.

We also missed a 2km wide asteroid that was heading towards us but veered right (or was that left?) at the last minute. Apparently we’ll cross paths with asteroid (52768) 1998 OR2 again in 2079.

While Covid19 has turned the world and global leaders on their head, some politicians have moved forward progressively.

• The Saudi-Arabian led coalition declared a cease-fire with Houthi forces in Yemen, ending a 5 year long war. 
• Saudi Arabian King Salman issued a royal decree that those who were convicted of crimes as a minor will no longer be executed. 
• The Luxembourg parliament makes a world first legislating free public transport across the whole country. 
• And as scientists madly scramble to develop a vaccine for Covid19, a team of British and Kenyan scientists have discovered a parasitic microbe that stops mosquitos from carrying malaria, huge breakthrough in the control of this pesky disease. 
• And as ugly as racism, prejudice and selfishness is, it’s great that these rather disgusting traits we have are being highlighted and addressed.

Truthfully I haven’t even got halfway with all the sad news. Plus we’ve still got 5 months to go with plenty of time for more natural disasters, riots or unimaginable acts of the unknown. The biggest thing I am noticing is that most of these issues of conflict have the human element to it. As humans – guardians and citizens of planet Earth – it’s our duty to protect each other in order to protect ourselves. It’s high time we stopped and looked long and hard at ourselves in the mirror to see how we are doing. If we had a performance review with God (regardless of whether you believe in God or not), I truthfully don’t think we’re hitting a lot of milestones or key performance indicators. Much of the turmoil and conflict that is being experienced and inflicted is us doing this to ourselves. Being a kind human being starts with each one of us. Humanity is everyone’s responsibility. How can we do this? By being aware of others and how our behaviours impact them.

1. See the world through the eyes of someone else. If they’re worried about Covid19, do what you can do to not contribute to that stress – wear a mask, keep your distance.
2. We’re all stuck on this planet with no where else to go. Taking responsibility for our own actions is the first step to conflict resolution.
3. Anger is a completely legitimate emotion if you have been mistreated. However anger mixed with prejudice has a very ugly selfish look about it. Be aware of your own prejudices.
4. Respect does not mean be a doormat. Respect means not treating others like they are a doormat, even if you disagree. Disagree if you must, but no one is your doormat, or someone that you can ill-treat, or assault, or oppress, or kill.
5. Everyone’s lives have been impacted by Covid19. You’re not the only one. We’re all fighting some battle of some description. Have patience.

Collaboration works better than going it alone because we can go further together than by ourselves. It challenges us to think and gain insight into our strengths and weaknesses. It forces us to share, communicate and work cooperatively together. And it is something that extends beyond the business room and organisational structures. Collaboration has a direct impact on how we as humans get on with each other and move collectively in the same direction. The more we consciously practice less selfishness and more empathy, from POTUS and Kings to journalists and employers, when looking for a carpark spot at Bunnings or wearing a face mask, the more we will be able to unwind the invisible painful barbed wires that are holding us in separate paddocks keeping us as humans from progressing in any direction.