History is made each day but today, 8 November 2020, we wake up to a world that seems lighter despite a pandemic that is still claiming too many lives also in the Great Land in the West. A North American nation much tested during a year beyond comparison now witnesses what can be regarded as a totalitarian era come to an end; troubled times coupled with the rapid spread of COVID-19 verbally reduced to a simple flu by a leader refusing to acknowledge the severity of the situation. As many people now draw a sigh of relief in the West we likewise do so collectively across a world very much impacted by decisions taken and policies upheld in the USA. We can hopefully now look forward to mature, globally influential leadership strategies where COVID is taken seriously, is dealt with and managed effectively, and where the approach to a global environment struggling under the weight of decades of collective negligence, is one based on insight and intelligence; with a willingness by new leaders to change things for the better. As the US is set to re-enter the Paris Accord, leaders all over come together in a common goal to tackle climate change worldwide.
At this time of global uncertainty we have today witnessed the ability of a nation to reverse the trend, to divert from the path and change the trajectory they were on – seemingly against the odds. The paralysing numbness is gone as we step into a state of “wokeness” – now a term coming up time and again in the global debate and in a social and political context. Uncertainty is most certainly still there, left right and centre, but isn’t that what it means to be alive in today’s haphazard reality where anything can happen and changes come at us at full speed? As we learn to accept to let go and are flexible enough to expect the unexpected, we need to keep waking up and we must refuse to be collectively sedated and threatened into obedience. We must kickstart ourselves into action and take charge of our destiny. That is how we grow stronger and more capable of living under global uncertainty and duress.
Through constant political and societal challenges, a nation has grown more resilient, more discerning and aware. Gone is an era that had many lose faith in the powers at be. We now greet a new dawn and are given the opportunity to shape a new beginning. This is a time of accountability for our own actions, a period of awakening of our global conscience. With that collective responsibility comes the ability for us to do the right thing; on a national, international and – by extension– also local and personal level as this joint learning experience helps us navigate also our own lives. By taking control and steering the future of the world in a better direction we break away from mindless acceptance. Instead, we gain the power to stand united and strive to resolve issues together as we realise that we are stronger as one than at odds with one another. When we step up to the occasion, take control and responsibility for our actions, act maturely and reconsider our role in the bigger picture, real freedom awaits. That is how we can collectively accomplish great things and find our way back to sanity while we get our interrupted reality positively back into motion.