2021, It’s Time!

Time

2021, It’s Time!

1706 2560 Oliver Kagwe

Will there be fireworks at midnight tonight? Whom will they mesmerise, seeing that we have a 10PM curfew? Or perhaps I misjudge. They do not explode fireworks to mesmerise us – they explode fireworks to represent something. What will they be representing this year? A change in time? The joy of finally coming to the end of what has mostly been a dreadful year or the hope of a new beginning? Will they represent our strength and resilience or will they honour the memories of the people who never made it so that we do?

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I honestly don’t know. I won’t be exploding any fireworks. I will be passing time with Oliver – listening to his stories and sharing in his imagination.

December 31st 2020 is unlike many previous December 31sts. I have never seen so many people want to see a year end so badly. It is the relief that comes with chugging down the last mouthful of the porridge your grandma terrorised you to take against your wish because you really don’t like porridge but she doesn’t really care. 2020 has been the porridge we don’t like but had to take because it had been served by grandma – time. Time, not life. Time defines life (if you agree otherwise please enlighten me). When time presented to us an airborne virus, we had to change how we ran our lives.

Unlike a majority of his neighbours, Oliver doesn’t seem to be sharing in the relief of new beginnings. Not that he’s had a wonderful time, no. Not quite so. And not that he thinks 2021 is not going to be better than 2020. It is because he considers a new year as a continuation of the previous year and the years before that. He is yet to subscribe to the view that a new year equals new beginnings. He explained to me that “it is a false illusion that human beings take comfort in to justify their insufficiencies. For instance, the insufficiency to stick to useful routines, quitting harmful habits etc.”

Oliver is of the opinion that anytime can be time to start afresh. To set new targets and to live by different rules. One does not have to change their calendars to demonstrate it. Time. Without time there would be no 1914, or 1939 or 1952, or 1963 or 2020. The misfortunes and or fortunes of 2020 were aligned on time. The hopes of a better 2021 are placed in time. Going by our recent history, will you be forming new year resolutions or will you be developing new habits?