You hear a phrase sometimes that sticks in your mind.

It’s just a phrase, but it has more weight than you may imagine.

This past week we eased into a new decade — the 2020s.

About 100 years ago, the Roaring ’20s were beginning.

The Roaring ’20s were a great time because there was so much going on. From a historical perspective, the decade was prosperous, which saw the use of automobiles, and telephones. There were advances in medicine, radio, and cinema as well. More people could afford more things. The Roaring ’20s is sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age because the arts took center court where jazz music was king.

Those who listened to jazz included some women who dressed as “flappers,” and, in my opinion fought for more political equality and ushered in the first wave of feminists. Flappers had a distinct look, distinct attitude, pushed fashion forward, and sometimes went against perceived social and sexual norms.

During that decade, prohibition or the ban on production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcohol was in force and drove flappers and other people to underground clubs known as speakeasies where alcohol was served.

Aside from jazz music and other arts, literature began its own movement as well. There were some great American writers during that period. The Roaring ’20s gave us Ernest Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises,” and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby.” Spoiler alert, Gatsby was a millionaire who made his money from bootlegging. The decade also spawned The Harlem Renaissance in which was centered in Harlem and New York City.

Langston Hughes was a writer to emerge and offered much social commentary that is still relevant today. His poem “Harlem” speaks volumes, and makes one think.

Welcome to a new year, a new decade, and possibly a new phrase.

It’s just the beginning, but 10 years from now, I think, no I know, someone will have come up catchy name describing the 2020s. It may be you or someone you know that has coined a phrase in which he will be remembered. We are starting the decade in a good position. Let’s hope there is much prosperity and positivity to share among people.

Let’s also hope that technology and good old-fashioned intelligence brings about the eradication of some diseases, so more people can live healthier for a longer period of time.

It’s that simple.

It’s that hard.