By Max Peebles
We never thought something like this could happen. But then again, people never thought the Great Depression would happen. Who would have foreseen that we would be thrust into World War II within just a few hours, or that a day like 9/11 could ever happen?
When will this end? The whole world has come to a halt. Life as we knew it stopped. Just two months ago, I was back at school and things were “normal.” It’s amazing how much life changed within just a few weeks, or even days. When will I be able to hug the people I care about again? When will I be able to go out with my friends again and not worry about anything? When will I be able to go outside and not have to wear a mask?
But life goes on. With spring just beginning, I hear the sounds of the birds every morning when I wake up. Sometimes at night, the sound of April showers puts me to sleep. Sometimes you walk outside and for a second, you forget this is happening — but then you see the empty streets and someone with a mask. You watch TV or see the news or the numbers. The numbers. Then it’s impossible not to think about. In those moments you think it’s only a matter of time before it’s me or my family. But then there are the moments throughout the day, or perhaps over dinner within the safe confines of your home, that you feel safe and that you’ll be alright.
It kills one generation and shatters another. The young will grow up too fast from this. The old are dying too soon. Every one of those numbers is somebody. A loved one, a friend, a colleague, someone with hopes and dreams too. It is a silent killer. Today is just one in a history of days of great suffering in our world. Today is just a drop in a bucket of hardships mankind has endured.
Life is so delicate and fragile. It seems at times we are staring right into the face of death, but aren’t we always? In a strange way, this all makes me feel somehow more alive. When things are going well and you are safe, you can forget that life is impermanent. We are only here temporarily and this sure does make one realize that. It makes you feel small, scared. We live in a broken and cruel world, yet, it is still so beautiful and there is still so much good and joy in it.
This time we’re living through is terrible, and we all wish it never happened, but some of the changes it’s making to our lives I think will be for the better in the long run. We are all being forced to spend time with our families and with ourselves. Little things like eating dinner together or going for a walk with friends, have become more important. We now cherish face-to-face interactions more than ever, despite us being so “connected.” This time will truly impact our generation in a profound way. In the long run, we will be better and stronger. Will we be the next “greatest generation?”
What are those younger than me thinking? What will the remainder of college or high school be like for them? What about the little ones? As for my graduating class, we are jumping off a cliff into a fractured world and society. However, I know the resilient-minded will emerge so strong from this, and with a deeper sense of purpose. They will ask us, “how did you overcome the crisis?”
God bless the medical workers. They are holding our country and our world together by what seems to be thread. Someday, when this is all over, we will learn what it was really like for those workers in the hospitals in Wuhan, in Milan, in New York City. Someday, we too will say, as Winston Churchill did during the darkest days of World War II, that, “never was so much owed by so many to so few.”
Peebles is a senior English major with a minor in Journalism
Comments