When dealing with rodents, as one often has the unpleasant task of doing in densely populated cities, I find I have two options: pretend that they don’t exist and cower in my room while my stuff gets destroyed, or take up a broom and go room by room sweeping and cleaning, leaving no furniture unturned.
In the process, I rediscover old stuff that may be useful again, or useless things just taking up space which I chuck out. Many times, these rodents make sudden movements and reveal themselves, offering one the opportunity to finally face them head-on. But other times, they may be dealt with later by a carefully laid trap made by the carefully observed findings discovered in the cleaning process.
In the moment of a faceoff with the rodents, you will feel both dread and elation –dread at the fact that you are going to have to deal with the horror of the situation, but elation at the fact that what was hidden is now in the open and possibly might be dealt with. I imagine that this is what every hero in any movie feels like when their villain finally appears. No more sleepless nights wondering if you would wake up to find something crawling up your bed. You know for certain that there is nothing there because you cleaned up, repaired broken things, blocked any leakages and holes, and swept up any old foods. You sleep better, are more relaxed and you wake up feeling better about the space you live in and, dare I say, the world.
But what do rodents have to do with anything, you might wonder. A decade ago, the vision for the year 2020 was filled with all the positive growth one could wish for. As a nation, Nigeria could have latched onto this touted vision and made significant progress in our health sector, our economies and in every other area necessary for nation-building. Sadly, with the arrival of 2020 came the time to face the over-flogged truth that the opportunities for growth and development isn’t spread across for everyone evenly. This year alone, we have seen increased reports of race-instigated killings. We have also seen people held back from opportunities due to gender related limitations.
The year 2020 has revealed that things are not necessarily the way they appear. It is a reminder that the absence of unrest does not always mean that people are not at war. Also, the presence of protests does not mean that the world is going to burn, at least not forever.
So, remember that feeling of confronting the rodent. That sense of doom and elation. This is how I feel about 2020. Yes, we have protests and pandemics defining the new normal. But each time I think about the Kpop stans who flooded Police scanners in Dallas, Texas with FanCams to prevent protesters from being identified, each time I watch videos of scores and scores of teenagers skateboarding, cycling, dancing as a form of protest, each time I see young women pulling in their support for each other in the face of injustices, each time I see one more person decide to listen, do better and offer their support to movements that demand better of us, each time I think about the loss and the gains this year has taken and given, all I see is hope.
If I had to describe 2020 in one sentence, it would be the most hopeful I have ever felt.
