The phrase that seems to most sum up 2020 is this: “I don’t know how to explain to you why you should care about other people.”

I don’t know how to explain to you why you should care enough about other people to not shoot an unarmed woman who is posing no threat to anyone, in her own home.

I don’t know how to explain to you why you should care enough about other people to own your mistakes. The Louisville police had opportunity to take full responsibility for fucking up. That did not happen. Instead they doubled down. The Louisville police are not an anomaly. It is widespread — powerful people and institutions lacking humility and humanity.

I don’t know how to explain to you why you should care enough about other people to think about how your own actions, every day, matter.

This means wearing a mask when around other people because you could be asymptomatic; both the World Health Organization and CDC have made this recommendation. It comes down to respecting other people.

I don’t know how to explain to you why you should be far more uncomfortable with the possibility of causing someone’s death than you are with wearing a few more inches of cloth on your body. I don’t know a nice way to say “a mask is nowhere near as uncomfortable as menstrual cramps or labor pains, so stop being a giant baby and suck it up.” I don’t know a polite way to say that wearing a mask is not a form of oppression, so stop with the maudlin “liberty” protests already.

I don’t know how to explain to you why you should care about other people enough to slow down when driving anywhere. To slow down, to come to a full stop, to look in all directions before making turns, to not start rolling until a pedestrian has completely cleared the roadway, to value a person’s life more than shaving three seconds off your commute. I don’t know how to explain that when you hit anyone or anything, you immediately stop and assess the situation, and then you call for help while taking responsibility for your role in causing injury. I don’t know how to explain that nobody deserves to be raped, no matter what they were wearing, and that nobody deserves to be hit by a car, no matter what they were wearing.

We have all had an opportunity for immense growth this year, yet some continue to squander it — unwilling to introspect, ask hard questions, and evolve. We all have a choice in how to act, how to respond. Do we adhere to a broken individualistic culture, or do we begin to consider the needs of others?