Who could have known what 2020 would bring?
It has been a year of challenges and reinvention; a time in which we had to reconsider virtually every facet of our daily lives. Shakespeare told us that “all the world’s a stage” — but over the past 12 months, we each found ourselves learning different roles in entirely new productions.
Looking ahead to 2021, we at Shakespeare For Our Children are reminded of key lines from Julius Caesar (Act IV, Scene 3). “There is a tide in the affairs of men | Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune,” Brutus declares as he considers the timing of his war against Mark Antony. “On such a full sea are we now afloat.” Brutus also describes a stagnant alternative to riding this wave of potential: being “bound in shallows and in miseries.” More than an abstract musing on strategy — that is, how to fight — Brutus here illuminates the importance of timing: when to fight. (Listen above!)
Symbolically, the dawn of a new year has always signalled a time of resolution and affirmation. But after such a uniquely difficult past year, 2021 indeed presents a “full sea” of opportunity. It is a time to seize the possibilities for change and growth, rather than reacting to events beyond our control. The power of perception is central here: thinking back on 2020, it would be easy to say that the tide had turned against us. Now as we look forward, let us claim a sense of positive momentum — knowing that we are still on the voyage, but moving on with hope.
©2021