Is 2020 Really the Worst?

I want to be clear about one thing before I start: this is definitely not about me trying to find the beauty in an epidemic or applauding anything that has happened in 2020- it’s been a pretty rough year. With that being said, I have to ask, is 2020 really the absolute worst year ever? Bad? Without a shadow of a doubt. The worst ever? Well, maybe.

In case you forgot what has happened so far in 2020 and want to reminisce on the eternal hell it has been, I’ll do a quick recap.

January started things off with a literal bang as an American drone strike nearly started World War III with Iran. Meanwhile, Australia burned and COVID-19 was locking down China. As the month progressed, it did not get better. Kobe Bryant and his daughter perished (along with others) in a helicopter crash, and the month finally concluded with Brexit.

February was a political nightmare in the United States as the Democratic primaries had more problems than a former Disney channel child star, and Trump avoided being impeached as a result of the Senate trial.

March was a fun one as COVID studied the Tik Tok model, and after launching in China, really found a home in the United States. What seemed like a distant problem enveloped the entire world as everything came to an absolute pause, the economy crashed, and quarantine began in the West. Also, Tiger King was a thing. I don’t know if that’s a positive or a negative, but it’s worth mentioning.

April was relatively quiet as everyone stayed home except for some insane gun-toting Americans. Kim Jong-Un kind of died for a bit, but then didn’t. But then maybe he did? Then the US government announced that UFO’s exist, and we moved onto May.

May, June, July, and August did not make things better in the slightest, as the months were united through racism and police violence that sparked protests across the United States. Meanwhile, COVID-19 continued to plague the US while the rest of the world contained the virus relatively well. Politics happened but this is supposedly a sports blog so tragically, Liverpool won the Premier League.

There are plenty of other events that are incredibly important and equally tragic like the explosion in Beirut, shootings in Canada, earthquakes, small volcano eruptions, floods and more. All of this essentially means one thing, and I already said it. 2020 has been a ROUGH year.

Then, there’s the year 536.

Now, obviously, there’s no way to know exactly how it went, but we have an idea. Imagine if you will, you’re a peasant farmer and you’ve just sacrificed your first-born son and thirteen sheep to the moon god in hopes of a good harvest. Suddenly, your world is dark, literally.

Every day is as dark as night. The sun isn’t shining, your crops aren’t growing. Clearly, your sacrifice wasn’t enough. Either that, or a volcano in Iceland erupted and spewed so much ash into the atmosphere that the sun literally cannot and will not be able to reach the earth’s surface for over a year. But science doesn’t exist so it’s probably the sacrifice thing (Spoiler, it was the volcano).

As the endless darkness continues, you and everyone else in the world struggle to grow any crops, and what started at as a few hungry people becomes a worldwide famine. Not only that, but without grape crops growing, there is essentially no wine, so you can’t even drink through all of this.

At first, the lack of alcohol isn’t a problem. We could all do with a little less alcohol in our life and it’s ultimately a healthier lifestyle. But soon, this will become a problem. Alcohol does more than get you drunk, it keeps you warm. And, unfortunately, another result of the darkness is that it has gotten a little bit colder. 30–40 degrees colder actually. So, now, it’s snowing in the summer and what you thought was just a wee little famine, is actually a famine and a freeze.

So, fast forward, it’s been 11 months of absolute hell in 536. It’s still dark but a new year is on the horizon, and with it, hope. Little do you know that while 536 has been hellish, the worst result of it hasn’t become clear and won’t for a few years. You see, 536 happens to be a phenomenal year for a plague to form. So, it does. And within a few years, it will become known as The Plague of Justinian and will kill over 50 million people. Not ideal.

So, which is worse? You decide.

For me, I’d consider 2020 to be worse for a few reasons. First and foremost, because I’m living through it and I’m pretending to be a drama queen. But also, because as a result of the internet and TV, I’m relatively aware of the monstrous volume of bad-happenings going on in the world in 2020. Ignorance is bliss, and I’d love to be a farmer in 536 with an infinitely higher chance of death and tragedy, but completely unaware of what was going on around me.