I was scrolling through my phone and decided to go to Facebook. Someone had posted that Chadwick Boseman had died. My heart sank. Then I was hit with a ray of hope when it dawned on me that it was probably fake news. So I clicked over to a better source and then my heart sank again, this time even lower. It was true, Chadwick Boseman had died of colon cancer at 43. Wow, it was like déjà vu, like when I’d found out Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna had died in the helicopter crash.
It was surreal. My mind was immediately flooded with images of Chadwick portraying so many iconic figures on the silver screen: Jackie Robinson, James Brown, and Thurgood Marshall. And the best role of all, T’Challa/Black Panther. How could this beautiful, talented, magnetic man be gone? It just doesn’t seem right. Nothing in 2020 seems right. Kobe’s death, Covid and the financial, mental, and emotional aftermath, the death of African American citizens at the hands of police—Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and most recently, Jacob Blake, it’s bizarro world. What is happening? What’s next? How do we get through one earthshattering event after another?
As you can see, I haven’t written a blog in months. But I felt compelled to write tonight because I have a feeling that this latest news is going to send someone spiraling into a deep depression. I’m sure there are already people depressed. I want to encourage you not to give up. I’m not so arrogant as to assume that the person or persons reading this right now is religious, spiritual or that you believe in God. But I want you to know that I do. And I believe God is real. And I believe God is here with us going through each and every event. He is who I’m holding onto and praying to, talking to on the daily to get me through, to make sense of everything that’s going on. I believe God has a plan. Nothing happens by coincidence. God knows everything from the beginning to the end. He loves His creation. He’s not trying to hurt us. He wants us to grow closer to Him and to love one another.
I believe the pandemic and all the events of 2020 have taught us that we all are in this together. It’s taught us that a virus can infect all of us, that in order to beat this thing we have to work together, we have to protect one another, by wearing masks, washing our hands, keeping distance. The killings of black people by police has opened the eyes of thousands of people who didn’t know what a lot of African American communities have known exists—that black men in particular are treated differently by the police than their white counterparts. And for the record, not all police are bad. The videos have made people come together around the world protesting for justice. The unexpected deaths of icons such as Kobe and Chadwick have reminded us that life is temporary, that we’re mortal and that life is a gift.
There’s a saying that it’s darkest before dawn. 2020 has been dark. That means that 2021 is going to be amazing. I believe that. I believe that all the events of this year are going to pan out in such way that’s going to make 2021 one of the best years of our lives. Please don’t give up. Please don’t leave five minutes before the miracle. A change for the better is coming!!!