2020 has been a roller-coaster so far. I remember back in January, when a group of us were sitting around enjoying our scrumptious meal, we briefly discussed the Covid situation in Wuhan. How terrible it must have been to be on a lockdown and not get to celebrate Chinese New Year with family and friends. We lamented and pitied, as if it were a tragedy happening to other people; as if we would never have to worry about the same affliction affecting us. How wrong were we! Who would have thought? In hindsight, we should’ve known better, seeing that we were all doctors on the table.

It’s almost embarrassing looking back and seeing all the memes that were circulating around, poking fun at how people were excessively cautious and concerned about Covid. I too, was guilty for partaking in the meme jokes at that time. But then things took a drastic turn, and before we knew it we were were all caught off guard. The tardiness in response has cost this country tremendously. One had to ask, how did we get here? How are we so not ready for this? But most of all, what will it take for us to recover?

Just when I thought things couldn’t have been worse, news about George Floyd being murdered by a police surfaced, and the police brutality towards protesters were even more atrocious. How could they?! I couldn’t understand how any human being had the capacity to hurt another being just like that, but I guess that’s the definition of brutality. I want to know, how are they able to sleep at night for doing such heinous acts? How do they tell their kids that “daddy went to work today and my job was to hurt other people without any provocation”, even though their profession is supposed to do the opposite? How do they reconcile with that discordance? Do they even care? Do they really think what they’re doing is right? Do they feel that their acts are justified because they’re merely following orders (if that at all)? I want to know if there’s another side of things from their perspective. Alas, my imagination fails me, no matter how hard I try- I can’t imagine how such acts could warrant a justification. It makes me really sad that even though we, as a human race, have made huge strides in many aspects, fundamental things like ensuring certain people’s human rights and basic access to healthcare for that matter, are still stuck in the past, making no progress at all.

It is the year Twenty Twenty. Pandemic has claimed so many lives, and in some ways there is a component of helplessness because we couldn’t tell who it will infect, and who will perish from it. There is a random factor to it. On the contrary, the inequalities that the African American people are facing is something we can do something about. There’s no randomness it it. We have a broken justice system, and inequality is real. We can use our voice, our actions to push for a change. This is unacceptable. Black lives matter too.

Humans are forgetful beings. If there’s anything we learn from history, it’s that sometimes we don’t learn from it at all. We need to remind ourselves that change doesn’t happen overnight, and that every human lives matter, regardless of race. We need to remind ourselves tragedies like that happen every day, lest we get comfortable and move on, forgetting about that day’s events, just like how so many lives were taken and forgotten. When the protesters get tired and the news dies down in a few weeks, we still have work to do. We have to continue to fight for justice. There are a lot we can do to change things; keeping silent is not one of them.

As I sit here in my living room, I can hear protests on the streets. While I chose not to go out and join the protest, I will do my part to stand with them. I will read more and educate myself, I will donate to some of the funds to help them, and I will continue to engage in conversations surrounding these discussions.