Produced | Tiger Sniff Youth Culture Group
Planning | Slag County
The author | Slag County, Cucumber Soda, And Wood Boy
The inscription | Slag County
A year ago, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in his 2021 New Year's message:
"COVID-19 has upended our lives and plunged the world into pain and grief... But as the New Year approaches, we see a ray of hope: people reaching out to neighbors and strangers; frontline workers working hard; scientists racing against time to develop vaccines at an unprecedented pace; and countries making new commitments to prevent climate catastrophe. If we work together, unite and work together, these lights of hope will shine around the globe. ”
Standing at the tail end of 2021, "That | NG" summed up this extraordinary year with 26 English words, A to Z logic, which may not be recognized by "authority", but maintain our unique perspective and consistent sincerity and simplicity.
The following picture, a patchwork of words and pictures, is the 2021 in the eyes of "that | NG":
As Guterres put it, 2021 is indeed opened by "hope."
At that time, a year after the world experienced the new crown epidemic, the mass spread of vaccines made people look forward to 2021, looking forward to everything returning to normal and pulling the runaway train back to the track before.
Looking back now, we feel lost: the new virus variant is caught off guard, and the epidemic not only invades our bodies, but still affects the most intimate way of life of the human race – at least, you can't count how many shows have been cancelled.
Worse still, the knock-on effects of the pandemic crisis persist: In the United States, violent attacks against Asian-American communities have revealed a divided world; inequality is rising there, according to recent data; and online, confrontational rhetoric has given you a deeper sense of polarization.
All in all, everything will make you feel that the recent new Netflix game "Don't Look Up - Don't Look Up" is not an absurd magic movie, but a reality masterpiece, not as smooth as we expected.
In fact, we go to great lengths to capture the reasons for these big or small things, not simply to be nostalgic or to pretend to be deep; but to welcome the new year with confidence after saying goodbye to these "past tenses"—a year that has never been so hopeful.
Because, despite the elusiveness of anxiety, sadness, and return to normal, many individuals and groups are still struggling to "get better":
Even though humanity is in trouble, we still haven't given up looking up at the stars.
China's Tianwen-1 and U.S. Perseverance are studying the possibility of human life outside the earth on Mars; the Parker Solar Probe made its way through the unexplored solar atmosphere in April, becoming the first man-made vehicle to touch the sun.
By the way, there are billionaires like Bezos, Branson, and Maezawa Yusaku, who flew into space first; these stories reveal that humanity is entering a large enough era of space navigation.
And in a world of increasing polarization, we also see the power of unity.
In the context of the successive shootings against Asians in the United States in March this year, thousands of people went to the streets to hold anti-discrimination protests; in the street interviews of the news and in the tag of the social platform, you can see more and more people speaking out for the justice and justice of different ethnic groups.
In addition to the grand narrative, the stories and fragments of more anonymous individuals fighting for the benefit of others and their lives will still be touching.
In the Henan floods, the groups that saved people in the water, the rescue shared documents relayed, and the countless tearful images that appeared on the platform can all be believed that in addition to the recorded evidence, there are still many ordinary and outstanding people who are doing the same great and warm little things day after day.
The point of reiterating these details of time is that the bad rest of the information flow may give you the feeling of sinking times, but these powerful moments remind you that the world is so beautiful, it is still worth fighting for.