By Amin Kef Sesay
With inflation and high food prices hammering at the door of every poor man and woman in Sierra Leone; with joblessness high among the youths of both sexes; with economic productivity having taken a slump because of mostly external factors, 2020 is slowly fading into the recess of history as we look forward to the New Year.
Significantly, globally, 2020 will be remembered as the year that the corona virus turned world economies and livelihoods upside down as it ravaged from USA to Australia, Russia to South Africa.
At the same time, whilst individually many succeeded in meeting set goals, many more experienced frustration and disappointment in their businesses, marriages, etc.
That, notwithstanding, those of us whom death did not take into eternity continue to look forward to the New Year with the usual expectation of better things to come.
At one second past midnight on January 1, the day will change from Tuesday to Wednesday, marking the end one year and beginning of the next. This unique tick of the clock always prompts us to celebrate and to step outside the day-to-day activity we’re always busy with to reflect, look back, take stock, assess how we did and resolve to do better.
Why does the start of the New Year carry such special symbolism? And why is its celebration so common around the world, given all the energy and resources we invest not just in the celebration but also in our efforts to make good on a fresh set of resolutions, even though we mostly fail to keep them.
The celebration part is obvious. As our birthdays do, New Year’s Day provides us the chance to celebrate having made it through another 365 days, the unit of time by which we keep chronological score of our lives.
Phew! Another year over and here we still are! – Time to raise our glasses and toast our survival…But what about those resolutions? Aren’t they about survival—living healthier, better, longer?
New Year’s resolutions are examples of the universal human desire to have some control over what lies ahead, because the future is unsettlingly unknowable. Not knowing what’s to come means we don’t know what we need to know to keep ourselves safe. To counter that worrisome powerlessness, we do things to take control. We resolve to diet and exercise, to quit smoking, and to start saving. It doesn’t even matter whether we hold our resolve and make good on these promises. Committing to them, at least for a moment, gives us a feeling of more control over the uncertain days to come.
And many people resolve to pray more. That makes sense in terms of survival, too: Pray more and an omnipotent force is more likely to keep you safe. Pray more, and death is less scary.
As 2020 rolls into history, here in Sierra Leone, the majority of people will still wake up to the New Year saddled with their everyday existential concerns – the search for daily bread, the search for money to pay rent, pay off debt, buy things, pay school fees and medical bills, etc.
These are the things the majority of the people, regardless of tribe, region or political party would like the Government and its development partners to pay attention to as 2020 turns into 2021 in terms of working harder and better to improve on socioeconomic conditions in the country.
