Hope on the edge of a razor, Jacinta Neal

Hope on the edge of a razor

While 2020 might have not been as we expected, Jacinta Neallooks back on the year as a lesson to be learnt.

“The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; the wise say the path to Salvation is hard.” Maugham's opening quote to THE RAZOR'S EDGE From the Katha-Upanishad

I read The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham at the end of last year, and this quote has stuck with me ever since. I like to think of it in times of adversity or when I'm feeling down.

It popped into my head in March when COVID-19 was really getting serious, and thinking about it now, I think it defines 2020.

This year has been one for the history books. 2020 is not how any of us expected it to go. Travel plans were put on hold indefinitely. Loved ones got sick. Weddings, birthdays, funerals got cancelled. I didn't want my last year of university to be all zoom meetings and online learning, but here we are. But if this year has taught me anything, it’s that life is just unprecedented. It's a series of passing over the edge of a razor. We like to pretend we have plans; we have goals, but in reality, aren't we all just cruising along hoping for the best?

Your life

This moment

Hope on the edge of a razor, Jacinta Neal , Briannah Devlin

We all fall in love and give ourselves to somebody hoping they'll treat us with care, and sometimes they don't. We learn numbers by heart, and then we can't recall them anymore. We lose friends and gain them.

Every day we live thinking we know what is going to happen next… maybe until now. I had the next two years planned out, but overnight they completely changed. I think we all did. I guess if anything, 2020, gave us the best lesson we have to learn. Nothing is concrete, and your life can change in an instant. Instead of viewing this year negatively, I think we should look on the brighter side. In the scheme of things, 2020 is a tiny little moment in the whole of our lives. We will be able to travel, hug, and have more than ten at a table in the future. In five years, we will look at masks as a thing of the past. One day when I'm old and grey, I think I'll look back on this year and think not about the toilet paper hoarders, or the selfish, or the greedy. I'll think about the fact that we tried our best to keep everything afloat. We possibly did more kind things this year than any other, talking to our elderly neighbour to make sure they were okay, putting our lives on hold to breathe, lowering our carbon emissions, and staying at home. We spent more time with our families. We kept a distance of 1.5m to keep each other safe. The economic ramifications will be felt for a long time, and there is no denying that. Businesses will be lost, and tourism will take some time to bounce back. So 2020 was unprecedented, like passing over the sharp edge of a razor. But maybe in the best way.

Pictures: Lucia Mai