We are coming to the end of a year that I don't think anyone could have imagined. The social isolation and disconnection we've had to experience (and the impact those things have caused on our work, our hobbies and our lifestyles) means we're probably not looking forward to another year of the same. I sympathise with everyone in the community who's had their year thrown into upheaval, who've had more than their fair share of disappointment—of dashed hopes, shattered dreams or a cavalcade of never-ending, unfulfilled promises—who feel incapable of making plans longer than a few weeks ahead. These things of course cannot compare to the loss of loved ones.The expression "elephant in the room" is a metaphorical idiom in English for an important or enormous topic, question, or controversial issue that is obvious or that everyone knows about but no one mentions or wants to discuss because it makes at least some of them uncomfortable or is personally, socially, or politically embarrassing, controversial, inflammatory, or dangerous.
The global pandemic was an added weight on the anchor chain that's sunk many ships of dreams. The arguments among people from all nations about how to cope—or, in some cases, survive—have also sharpened the divisions between communities. Social media went into hyperdrive with conspiracy theories and overblown rhetoric about who to blame and who (or what) would save us, and leaders—real leaders—were conspicuous by their absence. The global pandemic is not the elephant in the room: it is a convenient truth to mask the other issues that communities have to deal with. Countless hours of commentary, the volumes of text and images associated with it—its causes, consequences and remedies—have dominated our social gatherings and will continue to do so for a long time to come. Political tensions, trade disputes, ecological disasters from flood, drought and fire, racial or gender prejudices/imbalances, etc. are not the problem. They're not the elephant in the room.
I'm optimistic: life will go on. Leaders will come and go, empires will rise and fall and life, as we knew it, will change. These things don't necessarily dictate our future. We need to understand that we determine our success but we can't start any journey to succeed until we acknowledge the elephant in the room and navigate a path through it or around it.
It makes us uncomfortable to talk specifically about big problems—problems compounded by an unending series of empty promises—and that's why we don't mention them by name. I'll let people deduce from what I've written, without me having to name the elephant in the room, what is the common problem we all have. Perhaps when we put a name to it we can find a way to make room for it.