Well… here we are in the last month of 2020 and what a year this has been. For most of us it has been a year of unprecedented difficulties, hardships, isolation and sadness. It has been trying. 2020 tested us.
Personally, I have been lucky among the lucky, because even if I haven’t seen my parents since January (they haven’t seen anyone since January), I haven’t lost anyone to COVID-19. The same can’t be said about people around me. People that are dear to me. Friends and colleagues that have lost so much this year. They bear the brunt of our suffering and we’ll all carry scars from this year.
People. Property. Work. Mental and physical health. In so many cases and for so many people – gone.
So yeah. Here we are, at the end of 2020 and perhaps looking toward 2021 with trepidation. With less hope than we had at the end of 2019, as we looked toward the future, back then.
Which leads me to a point. If there is a takeaway from this hell colored disaster of a year, for me it’s this.
Stay Fucking Human. Be kind to those around you. Speak softly. Tell them that you are there for them and that you love them. Let yourself feel with them and share in both their pain and those precious moments of joy. Treat people like they are people. Let 2020 remind you that life isn’t a given. That good times aren’t guaranteed. That this world can be plenty hard and when it is, the one thing we have is each other.
It has been a source of joy this year, to get to work with so many beautiful and incredible people. Both within Raw Fury – and when looking at the amazing artists we get to represent. Their hard work and perseverance has mattered more this year, to so many people. Because when there is strife, creativity thrives. And it reminds us of our humanity. Our collective hopes, fears and dreams. It allows us to escape, to maybe experience the world through a different lens. To explore ourselves together.
And we have had so many messages of hope, from people playing the games we get to work on. That they mattered during this difficult year. To battle loneliness, grief, melancholy and stress. Those messages are beautiful and give us hope. They drive us forward.
So, as we look towards 2021 – with a mix of caution and hope – for vaccines, brighter days and the physical embrace of friends and family… let us all take away this simple thing.
In 2021 and ever onward. Stay. Fucking. Human.
Jonas Antonsson
Founder