Eric, May 2020
Before I share my experience during the epidemic, I want to detail the reality of Covid-19. To start with, it is a global pandemic with 5.86 million cases, 362 thousand deaths, and a world of suffering (all as of May 29th). In the US alone there are 1.6 million cases, 91 thousand deaths, and families torn apart (all as of May 29th). It’s not just a health issue. Coronavirus has changed the economy (unemployment at 14.7%), social interactions (sports, education, media), and the way we now think. Disaster brings out both the worst and best of us and Covid-19 has been no exception to this rule. They say your true character is shown during the hardest times and there’s no doubt I’ve seen both sides. On one hand, there’s been racial injustice (George Floyd), anarchy, and incompetent leadership; On the other, there’s been kindness, thankfulness, and humanity. The world has become a stage for human condition.
As for me personally, I’ve quite enjoyed life during quarantine. Sure, there are many negatives; I miss eating out with friends, playing soccer in the spring sunshine, or even the sound of the school bell. However, I’m lucky enough where I’ve avoided some of the more serious struggles others face. I’m sure many fellow Waylanders would agree. The positives include more free time, avoiding tests and quizzes, and being allowed to sit on my computer all day. However, despite these benefits there’s one that I value the most. It’s the fact that life has slowed down. Before the pandemic, days were a whirlwind. Coronavirus has forced people to stop treating life as an experience and rather a competition. With more time on our hands, many of us are no longer scrambling to finish school work or working jobs. Though there are probably repercussions in the future, we now have time to appreciate what we have, work on ourselves, and experience what life has to offer. If you ask me, we often forget to enjoy life.
-Eric
Eric, June 2020
As if the world wasn’t chaotic enough, America has fallen into pandemonium. Following the death of Floyd, there were protests and an uproar from the people. That is all precedent. If you kill a man like that, you should expect there to be a response. Something great about America is that when people see something wrong they will rise up. But it’s a double-edged sword because something atrocious has to happen for Americans to realize how broken the system is. In this case, it was the death of George Floyd.
While we want protests to happen to create change, the turn they’ve taken is quite bad. The looting that takes advantage of the riots is terrible. That’s not hard to agree on. This I feel has created a deterrent for people attending protests. Even though only a small percentage of protests turn violent, many people don’t wanna risk hurting themselves. Since there have been beatings and unwarranted arrests by police, people are hesitant to attend even if they firmly believe in this cause. I, for one, do deeply care about creating equality but would fear for my health if I did attend protests.
One thing I read that I find quite fascinating is the similarities between protests happening now in America and the ones in Hong Kong. Both parties are fighting for what they believe is their human rights. Both parties are holding protests. Both parties are being unfairly beaten up. The list goes on but the point still stands. It's ironic because we view the Chinese government in such a bad light yet the similarities between American police and the Chinese government are more apparent than their differences. Of course they aren’t the same but quite peculiar.
Before I share my experience during the epidemic, I want to detail the reality of Covid-19. To start with, it is a global pandemic with 5.86 million cases, 362 thousand deaths, and a world of suffering (all as of May 29th). In the US alone there are 1.6 million cases, 91 thousand deaths, and families torn apart (all as of May 29th). It’s not just a health issue. Coronavirus has changed the economy (unemployment at 14.7%), social interactions (sports, education, media), and the way we now think. Disaster brings out both the worst and best of us and Covid-19 has been no exception to this rule. They say your true character is shown during the hardest times and there’s no doubt I’ve seen both sides. On one hand, there’s been racial injustice (George Floyd), anarchy, and incompetent leadership; On the other, there’s been kindness, thankfulness, and humanity. The world has become a stage for human condition.
As for me personally, I’ve quite enjoyed life during quarantine. Sure, there are many negatives; I miss eating out with friends, playing soccer in the spring sunshine, or even the sound of the school bell. However, I’m lucky enough where I’ve avoided some of the more serious struggles others face. I’m sure many fellow Waylanders would agree. The positives include more free time, avoiding tests and quizzes, and being allowed to sit on my computer all day. However, despite these benefits there’s one that I value the most. It’s the fact that life has slowed down. Before the pandemic, days were a whirlwind. Coronavirus has forced people to stop treating life as an experience and rather a competition. With more time on our hands, many of us are no longer scrambling to finish school work or working jobs. Though there are probably repercussions in the future, we now have time to appreciate what we have, work on ourselves, and experience what life has to offer. If you ask me, we often forget to enjoy life.
-Eric
Eric, June 2020
As if the world wasn’t chaotic enough, America has fallen into pandemonium. Following the death of Floyd, there were protests and an uproar from the people. That is all precedent. If you kill a man like that, you should expect there to be a response. Something great about America is that when people see something wrong they will rise up. But it’s a double-edged sword because something atrocious has to happen for Americans to realize how broken the system is. In this case, it was the death of George Floyd.
While we want protests to happen to create change, the turn they’ve taken is quite bad. The looting that takes advantage of the riots is terrible. That’s not hard to agree on. This I feel has created a deterrent for people attending protests. Even though only a small percentage of protests turn violent, many people don’t wanna risk hurting themselves. Since there have been beatings and unwarranted arrests by police, people are hesitant to attend even if they firmly believe in this cause. I, for one, do deeply care about creating equality but would fear for my health if I did attend protests.
One thing I read that I find quite fascinating is the similarities between protests happening now in America and the ones in Hong Kong. Both parties are fighting for what they believe is their human rights. Both parties are holding protests. Both parties are being unfairly beaten up. The list goes on but the point still stands. It's ironic because we view the Chinese government in such a bad light yet the similarities between American police and the Chinese government are more apparent than their differences. Of course they aren’t the same but quite peculiar.