Journal 10

I do wonder how this whole thing “pans” out (haha, get it? Like “Pan-demic”...not funny?). I wonder how long it took for things to get back to normal. I think you’ll even agree with me a year from now that this was one of the craziest global events you have ever seen. I think you learned some really valuable lessons though. You learned to be the good guy even in a world where people chose to be the bad guy in these situations. You’ve learned to be patient and kind because you truly never know what people are dealing with. You’ve learned to give back in any way you can because its the right thing to do and because it makes you feel good. You’ve learned the value of being nice to the people you live with even in crazy situations like this when you wanna attack your siblings for eating the last of the your chips.

I think what I would most want my future self to say to me from the fall is that it is over but I know it won’t be by then; we were too carefree about it and now we have to pay the price of it. I’ve seen the current graphs of when researchers will think this will end and most of them think not until 2021.

I wish I could have told myself before all this started to appreciate moments with my friends a little more, enjoy going to school, and be more thankful that I have an education and am able to learn new things every day. If there’s one thing being in quarantine has taught me though, it’s to always appreciate what you have in life because even though I may complain about it a lot I wouldn’t change anything I have in life for the world, and after going through all this I have high hopes that we will all come back to school as different people and actually enjoy our time with our teachers and classmates.

The last day I remember feeling like life was normal was March 12th. The next day was Friday the 13th and we went to school but the energy was so weird. The only thing you heard walking through the halls were people talking about corona. People talked about having two weeks off from school(which sounded kind of exciting at the time). Nobody could have predicted the chaos that was soon to come. My friends hung out after school and we drove around and got food and didn't think twice about anything we did.

The video was most impactful to me because even though it is a little dated it shows how seriously Italy was taking the virus while the U.S. was making jokes, not wearing masks, and hardly washing our hands. Maybe if we had taken it more seriously, in the beginning, there would be fewer cases and things would be more normal.

I would tell myself to grab a few extra rolls of toilet paper because everyone will be stocking up on it and toilet paper will be very hard to find for months to come… I still haven’t found any. I would also tell myself to grab any food that wasn’t chicken because oh my lord I am SO SICK OF EATING CHICKEN EVERY NIGHT… it is not cooked terribly it’s just chicken 7 days a week, 3 meals a day… prepared differently every time we eat it. I really miss eating haddock that was a good meal even homemade filet of haddock… they’re just thick fish sticks that we would put in the oven.

I know a lot of people have lost their jobs during all this and for people and families in those situations it seems very scary and just a horrible situation to be in. I do think that as a society we are doing good about spreading awareness about the people in need during this outbreak and that most people will be able to recover from this.

I think I would want to say something to my former self, around when the quarantine started. Things are ramping up in our country. There are lots of new cases popping up in every state and we have now surpassed everyone in having the most number of cases in any country. I want you to know that these times are pretty scary, but it isn’t all bad. Everyone is in the same situation just as you are. In a way, we’re all growing closer together because we all have a common thing we relate to.

I remember my friends and I were sitting in the cafeteria and one of my friends was on their phone when they came across an article about it. I had a feeling that we would eventually get a case but I had no idea that everything would turn out the way it did. My mom and sister kept saying that we weren't going back to school for the rest of the year, I didn’t believe them. However, now what they have said has become a reality.

People are now recognizing the fact that something like this could or will happen to us again multiple times. As a newer generation we should be already thinking about current world problems, and what we would do in those situations. We are going to be the new thinkers and solvers of the world so living in something like this will only prepare us more for our future. Not only do I believe that this will only prepare us but possibly even help us know how to prevent it in certain ways.

When I think about my future self and how I want to look back on this time I would want myself to realize the severity of what everyone had to go through. Before the coronavirus started everyone took everything for granted. School, friends, dinners, movies, stores. All of these things we took for granted before the coronavirus started and now that I have gone through quarantine type situations because of the coronavirus my future self won’t take things for granted. My future self will realize that things sometimes happen suddenly and very instantly. My future self will look back on this time and remember the memories that I made and the experiences that I went through during the stay at home order (quarantine).

I want to remember how everything was handled, I think this is important because then we can improve how these things are handled in the future. After watching a Ted Talk I have learned that likely in my lifetime I am going to have to go through this again. Senior prom was cancelled because governor Mills will not allow groups more than 50 for the months of June, July, and August. Also, because of that Graduation is weird, all Seniors are split into groups with only two guests allowed. This means I won’t get to see some of my best friends graduate.

Recently, I was looking through my Snapchat memories, trying to find pictures from the last day of school, and despite phones being banned I still managed to find a few photos. They weren’t anything out of the ordinary, a few pictures of my friends at school, and then again later on that night at a party. That was March 13th, probably not the most intelligent time to attend a party, but at least it was relatively small. Going to that party was definitely not the smarter alternative with a world-wide pandemic at bay, however even knowing what I know now I would do it again. Not only did I have fun, but looking back on it I'm glad I got to spend that last night with my friends, some of which I wouldn’t see for months to come.