2020 was definitely not how most of us thought it would go. It began with people thinking there would be a third World War, the pandemic started, and we started fighting for equality even harder. The past year was pretty tough overall, especially because of this pandemic, and we mainly focused on all the negatives, but this morning I was thinking that maybe not only bad things happened. So, I wanted to take a look back at the positives of the COVID-19 pandemic, whether they concern me or the whole world.
- Nature got better
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The global greenhouse gas emissions lowered by 7% from the numbers in 2019 and NASA noticed a lowering in air pollution. Because of, or thanks, to the absence of human activity animals have started roaming the streets again.
- I got to spend Christmas with family
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For the first time since 2017, I got to spend Christmas with my family. When I started university, I moved from West Africa to Canada, and coming home for the holidays was not possible because it was so expensive, so I usually went in the summer. In summer 2020 the borders were closed so I could not go back home. However, in November I went back home and was able to finally not be alone for Christmas.
- Online concerts
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In the beginning, I could not see the point of them except for the money the artists would be making. But as a kpop fan, the lack of concerts outside of Asia convinced me that maybe investing in online concerts was not the worst. I was able to attend NCT’s concert which I think is the first and the last with all the 23 members and saw Blackpink’s amazing concert. In this pandemic, online concert helped fans who cannot afford in-person tickets (since they can be pretty pricey sometimes) or fans whose favorite artists never come to their countries to enjoy an experience that is quite similar.
- People around the world rose up to protest police violence and racial injustice
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I wish they would’ve come together in different circumstances, but it was nice to see that even in these hard times there can still be a sense of unity. Not a complete unity since some people could not understand what the problem is and has been for the past 400 years, but all around the world people whether they were concerned or not took a stand for what they think is right: equality for all races.
- Period Products Became Free in Scotland
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This is something that needs to happen everywhere. In November 2020, Scotland became the first country to make period products free. This is an amazing thing in my point of view, and as a woman. I do spend quite a lot of money on period products, painkillers, etc. and I could spend this amount of money on something I didn’t decide to have, like a period (and god knows if I could stop having them I would as soon as possible). So, it was nice to see that some people do understand that periods are not a choice and decide to make them more accessible because a lot of women cannot afford those products because of their prices.
- Focus on Essential Workers
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The pandemic highlighted how important essential works are. I think that before the pandemic we did not realize how much we needed them for things to keep going around. Healthcare workers help us from our birth to any time we are sick. Deliverymen and women work hard to make sure we get our packages in time, and there are so many more people and workers who work and put their health in danger for us. So them finally getting the attention they deserve is very important.