2060. The air is so clean, we take blue skies for granted now. The streets are lined with lush green unruliness. No one trims or edits Nature anymore. The only motor vehicles that exist are for public transportation. Buses, food trucks, sanitation & waterworks vans, mobile libraries. People walk or use bicycles.Nothing is too far away. Money isn't our primary mode of transaction now. Things and services appear for those in need. We depend a lot more on our neighbours than ever before. Everything is slower. We move at the languid pace of cows. We have the discipline of wasps building their nests. We keep things simple like street dogs. We've understood that we are part of bigger whole. The trees are kings & queens. They rule us, we live in their shade.
Three keywords: Equality, Nature, Compassion
A key thing that's changed from 2020 to 2060 and Why: Money is no longer used to assign value. The pandemic has exposed this as a deeply flawed entity to gauge what matters (essential service providers, teachers, artists, forests & rivers) and what doesn't (billionaires, the stock market, patriarchy, caste system, racism).
What will people want to remember when they think back on 2020?: 2020 was the year that Nature and the earth reminded the human race that actions have consequence and that we are a small part of a larger whole. 2020 did not punish everyone equally. The weakest were the first to be culled out but in the end, the pandemic made no exceptions. 2020 left human beings with only one choice: dismantle the toxic systems that prey upon the weak, or else everything will crumble. Thankfully, we learned to listen.
Inspiration: I live in a country where the poor & marginalised are not considered worthy of receiving free education, free healthcare or free Internet. Everyday, fundamentalist governments are choking these communities even more. In the midst of this, I work for a library organisation where services are provided to the poor and excluded. When these communities are given equal access and equal rights, they don't just transform themselves, but uplift and improve our entire community & society. Only socialist democracy can change the world and bring human beings to a place where everyone lives in harmony with one another and nature.
About me: I'm a film writer and a library activist with The Community Library Project, India.
Image: Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0) - Linda, Fortuna or bust
