An essay that I wrote discussing the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, how it has impacted me, and what we can expect for the future.
Below is the accompaying artwork that I designed.
Below is the accompaying artwork that I designed.
I was born in the 90’s, 1996 to be specific and it’s crazy how much shit I’ve witnessed in my lifetime. Although I don’t remember it with crystal clear vision, I do remember being taken out of school on September 11th, 2001. I remember watching as a category 5 hurricane, Hurricane Katrina, hit the city of New Orleans. I remember my parents losing their jobs and house in the recession of 2008. I remember all the mass shootings that occurred not only here in America but across the world. I remember all these horrible things happening and feeling useless and sad knowing that shit like this happens to people, but at the time that all of this happened I was either too young to know what was going on, in terms of the severity of the issue, I couldn’t really do anything about it, or the issue was “too far away from home” for me to be really impacted by the situation. But then March of 2020 happened.
Leading up to 2020 my life had really taken a turn for the better in many respects, I had fulfilled my dream of moving to New York City, a dream I had strived for, I had gotten my own place, a job at a very well known company, and countless of friends, something I didn’t really have growing up and as we were counting down the seconds for a new decade I remember feeling a sense of pride and accomplishment because I had “made it”. A feeling that I will never forget. Around the time that December rolled around I had heard about a disease called coronavirus and that it came from China. I honestly didn’t think much of it and at times even made jokes about it, because once again it was “too far away from home”. Some time passed and I recall the situation being so serious that the Chinese government had to build an entirely new hospital for coronavirus patients, still, I didn’t think much of it. Even when cases appeared here in the United States I still didn’t think much of it, I guess I was stuck in the age-old saying “Don’t believe it till you see it”. However, as March rolled around I knew the situation was serious but not as serious as it is now.
Things went from bad to worse in a matter of days. I went from going over to my friend’s places, going out, going to the park, living my life in the city basically to literally having to escape the virus and come back home to Texas. But even when I came back to Texas I still thought that the situation would’ve gotten better in a matter of weeks and that I could come back in late March, early April but now it’s April 14th and there is no end in sight. My friends and I have been under quarantine for more than a month now and I’m starting to accept that this is our new normal and it’s not something I like. Sure, can I still text my friends and even FaceTime then? Yes, but nothing compares to physically being with them, making memories with them, sharing that positivity and love between a pair or group of friends. From one day to another we had to uproot our entire way of living and basically go into hibernation mode, a mode where we don’t know when it will end. Humans aren’t meant to live like this. We are a social species, we thrive in environments of activity, environments that foster social interaction but we simply can not do that no more. Was the whole quarantine situation fun for a week? Honestly it was, it was nice to have a little break during a hectic year, but now that sensation has run out. The days are starting to blend in, and oftentimes I find myself wasting my days doing nothing and it’s starting to get to me.
Seeing the world how it is today is just odd. When 9/11 happened, or when the recession happened, even when the shootings happened, we as a society were still able to move past it, we became stronger because of it. I know we will be stronger because of this pandemic but for the time being we cannot move past it. For the first time since I can remember, both in modern times and human history, the entire world is shut down. You can not go anywhere without it being the same exact situation as from where you can from, in other words if you live in New York you can’t just escape to London because the same shutdown that is happening in New York is also happening in London. For the first time we’re at a stand still. People go grocery shopping with masks and gloves now. Entire blocks of restaurants and retail shops are completely closed and empty. Schools are hosting virtual graduation ceremonies. This virus really came down to hit us hard and it’s winning.
But, in a time where everything has been taken away from us I think it’s important to realize everything that we had before the quarantine. We take so many things for granted. From being able to workout to having coffee with a friend. We live our lives so fast and don’t really stop to recognize how privileged we are to be alive and healthy. There are so many people across the world that don’t have access to doctors, to food, hell to clean drinking water, and to add coronavirus onto that list of issues is devastating. Let us use the time we have now to reevaluate what is truly important to us in our lives. Let us meditate on what we could be doing to make this world a better place for all, not just America. Let us take advantage of our privileged place among the global community to spread positivity and love to everyone.
One day the Earth will turn again. Restaurants will open, clubs will play their music, planes will dominate the skies once again, but we should never forget what happened. We should never forget all the countless lives that were lost during this horrible pandemic. We should never stop thanking our health care professionals for their heroic actions they did, day in and day out. In a time where it seems like nothing is going right, and that we will never overcome this let us use love to comfort one another. Love will get us through this. It always has and it always will. So next time you find yourself dreading the current situation think about how lucky you are to be alive, that your friends are alive, that your family is alive and I promise it won’t seem that bad.
Together we will get through this.
Leading up to 2020 my life had really taken a turn for the better in many respects, I had fulfilled my dream of moving to New York City, a dream I had strived for, I had gotten my own place, a job at a very well known company, and countless of friends, something I didn’t really have growing up and as we were counting down the seconds for a new decade I remember feeling a sense of pride and accomplishment because I had “made it”. A feeling that I will never forget. Around the time that December rolled around I had heard about a disease called coronavirus and that it came from China. I honestly didn’t think much of it and at times even made jokes about it, because once again it was “too far away from home”. Some time passed and I recall the situation being so serious that the Chinese government had to build an entirely new hospital for coronavirus patients, still, I didn’t think much of it. Even when cases appeared here in the United States I still didn’t think much of it, I guess I was stuck in the age-old saying “Don’t believe it till you see it”. However, as March rolled around I knew the situation was serious but not as serious as it is now.
Things went from bad to worse in a matter of days. I went from going over to my friend’s places, going out, going to the park, living my life in the city basically to literally having to escape the virus and come back home to Texas. But even when I came back to Texas I still thought that the situation would’ve gotten better in a matter of weeks and that I could come back in late March, early April but now it’s April 14th and there is no end in sight. My friends and I have been under quarantine for more than a month now and I’m starting to accept that this is our new normal and it’s not something I like. Sure, can I still text my friends and even FaceTime then? Yes, but nothing compares to physically being with them, making memories with them, sharing that positivity and love between a pair or group of friends. From one day to another we had to uproot our entire way of living and basically go into hibernation mode, a mode where we don’t know when it will end. Humans aren’t meant to live like this. We are a social species, we thrive in environments of activity, environments that foster social interaction but we simply can not do that no more. Was the whole quarantine situation fun for a week? Honestly it was, it was nice to have a little break during a hectic year, but now that sensation has run out. The days are starting to blend in, and oftentimes I find myself wasting my days doing nothing and it’s starting to get to me.
Seeing the world how it is today is just odd. When 9/11 happened, or when the recession happened, even when the shootings happened, we as a society were still able to move past it, we became stronger because of it. I know we will be stronger because of this pandemic but for the time being we cannot move past it. For the first time since I can remember, both in modern times and human history, the entire world is shut down. You can not go anywhere without it being the same exact situation as from where you can from, in other words if you live in New York you can’t just escape to London because the same shutdown that is happening in New York is also happening in London. For the first time we’re at a stand still. People go grocery shopping with masks and gloves now. Entire blocks of restaurants and retail shops are completely closed and empty. Schools are hosting virtual graduation ceremonies. This virus really came down to hit us hard and it’s winning.
But, in a time where everything has been taken away from us I think it’s important to realize everything that we had before the quarantine. We take so many things for granted. From being able to workout to having coffee with a friend. We live our lives so fast and don’t really stop to recognize how privileged we are to be alive and healthy. There are so many people across the world that don’t have access to doctors, to food, hell to clean drinking water, and to add coronavirus onto that list of issues is devastating. Let us use the time we have now to reevaluate what is truly important to us in our lives. Let us meditate on what we could be doing to make this world a better place for all, not just America. Let us take advantage of our privileged place among the global community to spread positivity and love to everyone.
One day the Earth will turn again. Restaurants will open, clubs will play their music, planes will dominate the skies once again, but we should never forget what happened. We should never forget all the countless lives that were lost during this horrible pandemic. We should never stop thanking our health care professionals for their heroic actions they did, day in and day out. In a time where it seems like nothing is going right, and that we will never overcome this let us use love to comfort one another. Love will get us through this. It always has and it always will. So next time you find yourself dreading the current situation think about how lucky you are to be alive, that your friends are alive, that your family is alive and I promise it won’t seem that bad.
Together we will get through this.