As the year 2021 approach and end, I’m pondering over how the year started with such huge expectations about life turning normal and people travelling around the world again. It happened to a certain extent, but 2021 definitely did not turn out the way most people expected it to.
Yet there’s so much we should hold in gratitude, and to appreciate. The whole world managed to get a significant proportion of people vaccinated this year. This is quite remarkable though in the developed countries where vaccination is widely available, there’s been movement against it as well. Those who chose consciously not to be vaccinated, to be at risk of being infected, suffering the full blown consequences without an immune response that can support the body, and also infecting others.
While global air travel isn’t really back yet, there’s still a higher degree of travel being done this year compared to last year. And that is something worth being thankful for. The downside perhaps is that carbon emission levels this year have gone back to 2019 levels despite the decline in 2020. This is a bit more mixed in terms of whether it is something to be happy about.
The economy overall is still uncertain and the periodic frenzies in the stock market for technology stocks, more speculation of cryptocurrencies reflecting the amount of liquidity the Fed has put into the global economy. But for all that we’ve survived and been given, by our customers, our families and our government, I’m thankful. Let’s really learn to give thanks for what we have and manage the escalation of our expectations.