During its history, the Time magazine has released a special issue with a cover showing an X symbol drawn over the face of a man or a national symbol. The December 14th cover of the magazine shows 2020 with a big red X crossed over it while being describing as the worst year ever. This is only the fifth time the magazine has used that symbol. It is the most recent one in a long convention spared for a few of the most exceedingly bad adversaries humanity has confronted within the magazine’s history.
The foremost time when the Time magazine used the X symbol was 75 years prior, in 1945, to mark the passing of Adolf Hitler, and then a dark X over Japan’s rising sun stamped the end of the war in the Pacific theater later that year. The second X on Time’s cover was in 2003 in which it crossed out Sadam Hussien at the starting of the Iraq war. In 2006, it was the third time that the magazine has used the X when US forces killed the pioneer of Al-Qaeda – Abu Mousab al- Zarqawi and the most recent one was in 2011 to mark the killing of Osama Bin Laden.
While it acknowledges that there have been “worse years in the world history” from the time of World Wars and the Great Depression, the magazine points out that the most individuals alive today have seen nothing like this year. Time has utilized the famous mark to symbolize the end of the noteworthy year which changed everything for another 10 years at slightest. In spite of the fact that the battle against COVID-19 still proceeds, this year gave us the fear of death, the misfortune of our cherished ones and left millions jobless all over the world. 2020 marks the end of a notable year, but not the end of the fight to control the spread of this dangerous virus.
