What will 2020 hindsight be?

For the past two decades I’ve looked forward to 2020. The year has a great ring to it. Perhaps there’s a hope for something perfect – much like 20/20 vision. Or will we see a crash before the decade ends?

There were other years that I anticipated for various reasons:

n 1976 because of the 200^th birthday of our nation.

n 1984 thanks to George Orwell’s book by that title.

n 2000 because it wasn’t just the start of a new decade and new century, but it also began a new millennium. 

n 2001 thanks to a film about a space odyssey. Unfortunately, that year became better known for the world’s worst terrorist attack.

We love to point to the expression “hindsight is 20/20,” and it is. Some of it is about second-guessing what we’ve done or what we should have done. I prefer to consider those things lessons learned.

Looking back can be interesting, especially when focusing on what happened 100 years ago – the Roaring 20s. The decade of the 1920s is remembered as one of changes.

According to pbs.org:

“Many Americans spent the 1920s in a great mood. Investors flocked to a rising stock market. Companies launched brand-new, cutting-edge products, like radios and washing machines. Exuberant Americans kicked up their heels to jazz music, tried crazy stunts, and supported a black market in liquor after Prohibition. A popular expression of the time asked, ‘What will they think of next?’”

And from history.com:

“The 1920s were an age of dramatic social and political change. For the first time, more Americans lived in cities than on farms. The nation’s total wealth more than doubled between 1920 and 1929, and this economic growth swept many Americans into an affluent but unfamiliar ‘consumer society.’ People from coast to coast bought the same goods (thanks to nationwide advertising and the spread of chain stores), listened to the same music, did the same dances and even used the same slang. Many Americans were uncomfortable with this new, urban, sometimes racy ‘mass culture;’ in fact, for many – even most – people in the United States, the 1920s brought more conflict than celebration. However, for a small handful of young people in the nation’s big cities, the 1920s were roaring indeed.”

There were many significant historic events during that decade, including this sampling:

n 19^th Amendment was ratified, giving women the right to vote (1920).

n First burial at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (1921).

n Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was created (1922).

n First game was played at the original Yankee Stadium. The Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox 4-1 behind Babe Ruth’s 3-run homer (1923).

n First Winter Olympics were held in Chamonix, France (1924).

n Sears opened its first retail store in Chicago (1925).

n Magician Harry Houdini died from a burst appendix (1926).

n Charles Lindbergh made the first solo transatlantic flight, from New York City to Paris (1927).

n Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin (1928).

n Wall Street stock market crashed, starting The Great Depression (1929).

I wonder and worry about what this decade will bring. Will we look back on the 2020s as a decade of positive things, or will it also end with a crash? Too often, we fail to study history and learn from it. 

The year 2020 seemed so far away, and suddenly it’s here.

For those of us who grew up in the fabulous ’60s, the start of that decade is now 60 years ago.

For the first time in more than 20 years, we have a decade that can be called by its decade name – the ’20s. The last time that happened was the ’90s, because the teens and the zeros just didn’t sound right.

The next time there will be repeating double digits in a year will be 2121. Most of us won’t be here to see it, but I hope there is something good to write about when some retired editor looks back on 2020.