COVID-19: A Weird New Life
By Hannah Sterkel, 17
| Many people are suffering from the effects of coronavirus more than I am and yet my life feels quite different than it did a few weeks ago. On one end of the spectrum, thousands of people are dying. People are losing their family members, friends and coworkers to this virus. In addition to losing people, funerals are being postponed because people cannot gather. On the other end of the spectrum, everyone is having their daily life changed in unheard-of ways. Everyone is staying at home and adjusting to new routines. It feels as though every day there is a new headline about some celebrity or public figure who has been infected or died because of coronavirus. At any other time, these headlines would last for days but they are quickly being forgotten because there are so many people being hurt by this. This is a scary and unprecedented time in the world and there is absolutely no way to know what will come tomorrow. People are getting sick and there is no cure. The only thing to do is stop the spread but that means no school and no work. It also means not being able to visit some of the people that are most important to me. My grandma is eighty-seven years old. I cannot expose her to anything. I am going to say this once because it is important: Stay at home. You can visit people once this pandemic is resolved. The risk is not worth it. Not having school is extremely challenging for someone who thrives on routine, and in my experience, this is most people. I have been urging my friends to create a schedule. Making a meal for myself and my family has helped give us comfort. Even if it is simple, the act of sitting together around a table with a home-cooked meal has helped us. This seems like a simple ritual but the simple rituals we are used to will keep us going during this time. Speaking of the downsides of not having school, I am very extroverted and rely on communication and connection with my friends to energize me. Without them, it is easy to get lost in my own head. I am without the people that force me to think outside of the box and learn with a purpose. My friends and my teachers are incredibly important to my ability to grow and it is weird not seeing them every day. Weird is one of the best words I can think of to describe this experience. In fifty years, my grandchildren are going to ask me what it was like being alive during the coronavirus pandemic, similar to the way I asked my grandmother what it was like being alive during World War II. They will do school reports where they have to ask someone who had to live through the coronavirus crisis. This will go down in history books. |
