COVID-19: My 2020 Person of the Year

The United States of America-based Time Magazine pioneered and popularised the Person of the Year (formerly Man of the Year until 1998) concept. Charles Augustus Lindbergh, a pilot, had at the age of 25, made the first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean between May 20 and 21, 1927. Then that was a feat. Although he was not the first person to cross the Atlantic, he was the first to make a non-stop cross of the Atlantic alone. To celebrate his exploit, Time Magazine named him Man of the Year for 1927. Thus began the annual ritual.

But the award is not always a garland on heroes, sometimes villains are decked with it. The Time Magazine’s Person of the Year award is not only bestowed on those who have made positive impact on the society, those who have negatively affected the society have also had the honour of winning the coveted trophy.

In 1938, Adolf Hitler was announced as the magazine’s Man of the Year. This was the same Hitler responsible for the gassing of six million Jews; the same Hitler who plunged the whole world into a needless war because he “wanted to rule the world.”

Rationalising its choice of Hitler, the magazine said that the Man of the Year award would usually go to a man or woman or idea that “for better or for worse most influenced events in the preceding year.”

So, positive contribution is not the sole consideration for voting anyone the Person of the Year, those who have inflicted untold hardship on mankind could also win the coveted prize, though many of the winners have positively affected the way we live. Similarly, there have been years when an inanimate object was picked as the person of the year. In 1982, Time Magazine chose the Computer as its Man of the Year because, according to the magazine, “There are times when the significant force in a year’s news is not a single individual but a process, and a widespread recognition by a whole society that this process is changing the course of all other processes… TIME has decided that 1982 is the year of the computer. … TIME’s Man of the Year for 1982, the greatest influence for good or evil, is not a man at all. It is a machine: the computer.”

The magazine also picked The Earth as its Person of the Year for 2006.

Following the tradition of the Time Magazine, I have decided to pick my Person of the Year. My choice is Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

In 2020, no person or event had as much impact on the Nigerian nation and the whole world as COVID-19. The disease which was first noticed in Wuhan, China, had an effect on everything that happened in the year. The pandemic has affected the way we live and conduct our businesses. The pandemic forced the world to shift from clustering to distancing. It forced businesses to operate remotely and made students to stay away from schools. It brought untold hardship to millions of citizens of third world countries and exposed the underbelly of the healthcare system of many African countries.

COVID-19 brought to the fore the importance of good health. To save their citizens from contracting the disease, many governments shut down their economies. This was not without an effect as many economies subsequently slid into a recession. In 2020, for upward of three months, the China factories that never sleep were forced to observe a break. Many high-end international events, including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, were put on hold, oil price crashed just like the prices of other commodities, and many companies posted huge losses.

However, the pandemic turned out to be a leveler that made mincemeat of men of power, wealth and royalty. It struck men of means and power the same way it hit those on the lower rungs of the societal ladder. It did not spare the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson; it assailed the American president, Donald Trump. In Nigeria, it hit the elite with the same gusto it periled the hoi polloi. Now, the powerful are really jittery because of their concern that COVID-19 will demystify them and rob them of the awe which the common people have come to associate with them.

The rich and the powerful love to play God, they love to be seen as the sole determinant of what happens in their domain. But COVID-19 has proved them wrong. Even they are constrained now; they cannot do whatever they like, they cannot go wherever they want; they cannot see whoever they desire and cannot touch whatever they choose. COVID-19 has shown that the rich and the mighty do not have the final say. The one that has the final say is the Almighty who reigns and rules in the affairs of men. The one that has the final say is God, the creator of the universe. It is vain for man to try to play God. The hard lesson for those who think they wield power over others is that they really have no power. If a mere virus gives powerful men the jitters, where then is the power they claim to wield?

For changing the way the world lives and for bringing down men and women of means from their high horses, COVID-19 is hereby chosen as my 2020 Person of the Year. However, this is praying that the virus will not be in contention for the award next year as it is hoped that the world would have effectively contained its effect and curtailed its spread.

Wishing you a COVID-19 free 2021.

 

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