Member-only story
My Word of the Year: Bewildered
Bewildered.
That’s the word I keep coming back to.
The only word to adequately describe 2020.
It might be the word to describe the past 20 years. Or at least the last four.
I picked ‘bewildered’ because angry, disillusioned and isolated (forced and otherwise), were too obvious and oblique at the same time.
To make it clear: Bewildered is not the same as confused. Although related, to a point, they are not synonymous. I was never confused about the decisions made, both on personal, interpersonal, professional and political levels.
Bewildered is the only word to describe how people reacted to this. Horror, Denial, Suspicion, Blame and Fear. Much like the Five Stages of Grief, but not. I’m reminded of the exchange between Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith in Men in Black -
Edwards: Why the big secret? People are smart. They can handle it.
Kay: A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it. Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you’ll know tomorrow.”
