Last year held both great joy and great tragedy for us all.
It would be difficult to cover the extent of 2010 for everyone in terms of all the political, social and environmental events that took place.
Besides, you were all there, you know what happened.
Instead I would like to cover the events that had the most personal impact for me in 2010: the earthquake in Haiti on the afternoon of January 12 and the World Cup.
I was in Haiti when the earthquake happened, spending a Christmas vacation with my family.
I was expecting nothing more than all the Christmases that have passed in my life, full of joy and bonding with the people who mean the most to me.
The morning before the quake, I was too lazy to get up and go to work with my mother. I spent the day at home with my little brother and our maid dotting around doing nothing.
I was in my bedroom when the bed began to shake and the things on my dresser began falling.
It would be dishonest of me to say that I knew it was an earthquake that was happening.
There was nothing even related to that in my mind and the fiercer the shaking became the further the thought strayed from my mind. It was only when my brother came in and pulled me down the stairs to go outside with him that I realized that something very serious had happened.
It took less than five minutes. Five minutes. But it left a stain that would last for a country; a stain in every heart and an emptiness that had not been there before.
In such a relatively insignificant amount of time a 7.0 quake brought a city to its knees, a seaport was rendered unusable, and an airport crumbled into the ground beneath it.
It was almost a month before people could fly out of the country again. The immediate damage was devastating.
The remarkable thing about this earthquake was that it brought the world together in a way that I had never believed was possible. People gathered their resources and the hearts of the world have stayed with Haiti even to this day.
Another event, though altogether different in its tone, managed to bring the world together as well.
This event was focused around a cup and a ball. It was called the FIFA World Cup.
The thing about the world cup that I loved so much was how it managed to unite people.
No matter what the political climate may be, socially, economically, or in terms of religioun, all of that is put away and the world comes together to rejoice in the beautiful sport. Even Americans were tuned-in to football (or soccer, as you guys call it here) while the world cup was happening. I was even more deeply in love with the world cup because it took place in Africa for the first time.
You cannot imagine the euphoria that was present in the continent at the time.
I spent my whole summer there and it was as if, for once, Africans felt like giants, like the world was theirs.
Everything that we had ever been told wasn’t possible for us seemed to glow in a new light of promise.
As we cheered our African teams and those of the people around the world, the black stars of Ghana melted into the hearts of a continent and took on celestial status.
The beautiful thing about “football,” and especially this world cup, was that it brought relief and joy to people all over the world who may have been caught up in their own despairs.
I will never forget the summer I spent stirring up the dust of the tragedies that had come before, and dancing till morning to “Waka-Waka” and the vuvuzelas.
These two events in 2010 have brought to light two things that I believe are very important to the world.
The first was that, in a time of great tragedy, we still have the ability to pull ourselves out of our own lives and come together to comfort and reach out to other.
The second is that, even in the face of some of the greatest of life’s tragedies, there is not only darkness.
That one day, the world will bring a light into your life that will heal our wounds and bring us up dancing and cheering for the heroes who have united the world.
Philippa Hatendi can be reached at phatendi@spartans.ut.edu.