Vision 2020 or 20/20 Vision

I was thinking this morning..... about 2020. I went visiting the eye clinic on Saturday 28th December 2019 for routine check of my prescription glasses. As usual, I was asked to read some letters on the screen with decreasing font sizes, while the optometrist checks out the best lens. Having selected what he thought was the perfect lens, he handed me a laminated sheet and asked that I read the smallest print at the bottom of the page. With some ease, I read out the following words aloud 'If you can read this print, then you have 20/20 vision...' As I walked out of the office of the optometrist, I could not but spare a thought about 20/20 vision, moreso because it was a few days to Year 2020.

I checked out the meaning of 20/20 vision and found out it means normal vision, while some say it is perfect vision. Hmm!! Fast forward 3 days and we were all shouting Happy New Year, clinking charged glasses as we celebrated the dawn of not just a new year but a new decade, 2020. The 2020 we talked and dreamt about yesteryears is finally here with us. As the celebration died down, I started thinking of the many faces of 2020.

First was the Nigeria Vision 2020, where the previous and current administrations had declared their intention to pursue the vision of placing Nigeria among the 20 largest economies in the world by 2020. When the declaration was made then, I looked forward to 2020 with high expectations believing that year will be when Nigeria finally becomes our Eldorado. I still can't believe this is Year 2020 and we are still the way we were. 

Then was the WHO Vision 2020, a global initiative that aims to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020. It was launched on 18 February 1999 by the World Health Organization together with more than 20 international non-governmental organisations. Twenty one years after, we are in 2020, and we are still recording incidents of avoidable blindness.

But why have we failed to achieve our vision 2020 both individually and collectively? If it is true that 20/20 is perfect vision, then why are we still short sighted in year 2020? The answer is in the proverb 'Hindsight is 20/20 vision.'

I discovered that reading the optometrist sheet with ease, Nigeria Vision 2020 and WHO Vision 2020 are all 'now sight.' Now sight can never by perfect vision, only hindsight is. I had asked before, that if hindsight is 20/20 vision, then what is foresight? As 2020 progresses, if you rely on your 'now' ability, you surely will need to be changing your lenses yearly, like I literally do with my prescription glasses. If you need perfect vision to achieve your dreams this year, then you will need both hindsight to know where you had failed and foresight to know what to do. The foresight I mean is that only God can give. Jeremiah 29:11 says 'For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.' 

With the benefit of grace to look back (hindsight) at 2019, draw from the foresight of God and you will enjoy 20/20 vision (perfect vision) even as we progress with 2020. Wishing you a success filled 2020.

Happy Sunday.

......Just the thoughts of a certain Wey Mey