2022: THE YEAR THAT WAS
by Donald Sevilla
Best described by many as challenging, it saw us crawl ourselves out from a deep pit.
Reeling from the after-effects of the covid pandemic, we saw economies shaken to the core and individual wealth tumble.
Stocks plummeted and businesses floundered. It did not paint a rosy picture but somehow we managed to survive. While some rich people saw their billions grow, others suffered unimaginable losses that shrunk their wealth.
Overall, it seemed bleak and depressing, yet, in adversity there is always opportunity.
2022 saw the rise of opportunists, people who were quick to jump the
gun to recover their pandemic losses without regard for others. The Russian invasion of Ukraine led the world to suffer from rising oil prices and other undesirable economic fallout under the cover of war.
While we enjoyed stable fuel prices over the years, we now saw a drastic price increase beyond the worse we could have imagined.
From the average of Php 40 per liter of fuel we had to live with a high of Php 70 that keeps on rising more than it falls. This triggers a domino effect on our commerce and trade that affects practically everything we do business about.
To add to our woes, the steep prices of basic goods had already caused our people to suffer more. We have to tighten our belts and anything more would have choked us to death.
But how far we could endure and suffer depends on our innate instinct
to survive. As the year is about to end we are seeing a ridiculous phenomenon in the prices of red onions that sell for an unthinkable Php 500-600 a kilo.
Yet all these we could never have imagined happening, but it did.
Thanks to our indomitable human spirit and resilience we managed to hang on with a smile. Despite our hardship we enjoyed our Christmas Noche Buena with family and kept our faith.
The year that was, far from stellar and ideal, was perhaps one of the most difficult in our post-world war two history. Yet imbued with strong faith and determination, we look forward to the incoming year with high hopes.
Humankind has weathered the storms and the onslaught of nature for ages. Our trials have prepared us for the worst and made us strong. As this year draws to a close, we cross our fingers and look up to the heavens above with hope and determination.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!