The Year of Vision

2020. The year of vision. 

As 2019 came to an end, the excitement of 2020 was fresh on our minds with the hope that it would be the year of vision. When 2020 didn't go as planned, a lot of us, I'm sure, gave up on the "year of vision". Why? Why did we give up the hope that 2020 would be the year of vision after a crisis came along?

20/20 vision is normal vision. When you go to the doctor and you have to read the eye chart with the spoon-thing over your eye, if you're like me, you can't see all of the letters on the chart. According to Stanton Optical, "When the doctor tests for 20/20 visual acuity he is testing how well your eyes can see an object at a distance of 20 feet. If you can see the letters clearly, then you are considered to have “normal vision.” This number indicates that you can see objects clearly at a distance of 20 feet, compared to other people." A lot of people think of 20/20 vision as perfect vision, when in fact it isn't. For example, if you have 20/15 vision, your vision is actually sharper than 20/20 vision because you can see from 20 feet away, what an average person can see at 15 feet away. 

20/20 vision is not perfect vision. 2020 was not the year of perfect vision, which was something I think a lot of us thought it would be. 2020 was not perfect, but it was a year that was eye-opening. Before 2020, many of us might not have realized how divided our country was. 2020 showed us that. Before 2020, many of us might not have realized how important community is. 2020 showed us that. Before 2020, many of us might not have realized how important in-person learning is. 2020 showed us that. There is so much that 2020 showed us. All of the things that we take for-granted daily, 2020 showed us how much those things mean to us. Going to work each day. Going to church. Going to school. Being with friends and family. Traveling. Many of us would not have realized how important those things we take for-granted are to us, if they hadn't been "taken away" from us. Sure, we still "go to church" or "go to school", but it's different. 

Before 2020, you could say we had 20/200 vision. When you have 20/200 vision you are considered "legally blind"; you can only see the top letters on the eye chart and need glasses or contacts to help you see. We couldn't see many of our country's problems and we couldn't see how important things were to us because we had 20/200 vision. However, when 2020 came along, we were given a pair of glasses. Those glasses helped us have 20/20 vision, and with that vision, we were able to see things that we weren't able to clearly see before. Before we had the help of our 20/20 vision glasses, many of us couldn't clearly see that we really need community, and that racial injustice is still a major problem within our country. We had 20/200 vision. We were legally blind. We couldn't see those things up close. It took new vision to help us see those things clearly. 

So before you throw the "year of vision" out the door, stop for a minute. 2020 was the year of vision. It showed us things we never would have known before. We would still be taking those things for-granted if 2020 hadn't turned out how it did. 

2020 was the year of vision, and that is something we can thank God for. As we move into 2021, I hope that we take our newfound vision with us. Vision that showed us that our country is broken, that we need community. I hope we take that vision with us, and we begin to make amends. 2021 will be the year of community, or togetherness. I hope that in 20 years when we look back on 2021, we will say, "That's the year that the world came together and supported each other. 2021 was the year that changed history because we stopped judging people based on their looks. 2021 was the year that changed history because we started loving each other. 2021 was the year that changed history because we broke through what was holding us back. 2021 was the year that we came together as a community." Now I'm not saying things will go back to normal, because they won't, but that's okay. 

2020 was the year of vision. Now it's up to you to use that vision.

Here's to 2021. The year of together.