Ryan, May 2020
Coronavirus has changed communication entirely and put my future in more uncertainty. The power of human interaction and connection has unfortunately slid into the shadows. Those endless conversations with friends and teachers that put a smile on my face have disappeared. For me, making memories is what drives my life, so life is very dull at the moment. Trapped inside my house, I feel powerless and unable to find that feeling inside of myself of pure enjoyment and love for life. In my opinion, we are living in the future: technology all around us, overtaking the need for a real person to person interaction. It is saddening and disallows everyone to “live in the moment” and experience the enlightening, colorful world around us. We have almost said goodbye to our lives for a couple months, not knowing the exact time in which we will return to the glorious lives that we previously had thrived in. I miss just about everything: friends, relatives, playing soccer, eating good food at restaurants, watching sports, swimming in a pool, going to the beach, and many more things. I have not driven in two months, for there is nowhere to go!
I am very worried about what the future will hold. I have a lot of questions that have so far been unanswered, and will continue to linger until the re-opening plan has allowed us to return to our normal lives. Will I have a soccer season in the fall? What will happen to my high school GPA? Will I have the opportunity to take the SAT? Will next school year be online, or in person? How do I visit colleges and decide where I want to go? Honestly, I hope everyday we climb closer to ending this. I am sick of looking at my computer for hours and hours each day. My biggest worry is getting into the college that is the right fit for me. I really wish that life will be normal by the time I go to college. I want to be able to have that valuable college experience that I have been looking forward to for years.
While this unprecedented situation has come with many losses, it also serves as a time to get things done, and maybe pursue hobbies that you never would have had the chance to do. I have taken up cooking and baking. I make my family dinner twice a week, and I have made some delicious meals. I am now the master griller in my family. Furthermore, I have all the time to run, ride my bike, and workout. Therefore, I have made it my goal to get super fit during the spring and summer, in preparation for soccer season, which will hopefully not get canceled. I believe that now is the time to get ahead on everything. I want to study in the business field in college, so I have been reading business-related books, and watching business lessons. I have created a list of goals for the summer: get a big head start on college applications, get really good at Spanish, get fitness to be insane. All of these are things I can do now to make life easier in the future. Since there are currently no ways to make epic memories, I have started a project where I can highlight bright moments in the past that provide happiness. I am finding all the pictures I can of my past, so that I can easily access them in the future and show them to my future children. This makes me forget about the global pandemic, and makes me remember the happy times in my life.
Ryan, June 2020
The recent events over the past week have been absolutely horrific. While many people argue that the violent protests, where people have fought against the police and set fires in police cars and surrounding stores, are an insufficient way to get a point across, I completely disagree. I do not support violence, but I have no right to judge how these protestors get their anger out. The video of the cop digging his knee into George Floyd’s neck is appalling to me. Floyd had no weapons, and was not fighting back, just fighting to breathe. I watched this video over and over again, saddened by the treatment of this African American individual. He did not deserve to die. The following protests, violent or not, should not be criticized by white people. I could give my opinion on the matter, but it is not my place to speak out. I am a privileged white male who lives in a grand house, and spends money on things I want. I am not an African American, of whom such a disproportion are living in poverty, where they struggle to buy things that they need. I have not experienced oppression, so I can not empathize with this matter. I can read about it and picture how it feels if I were a black, but I cannot have the true feeling of racism in action. Violence is obviously terrible, but the protests have every right to be violent and to continue to be violent. Police brutality is violent, so protests respond with violence.
I remember learning about the “Black Lives Matter” movement, and I was distraught. All of these innocent black men losing their lives due to police believing they are superior. This incident added to this problem with racism around the world. Just when you think coronavirus is the worst problem our world has right now, racism blasts out of nowhere to cause the world to go crazy. I am in a Facebook group called “Wayland Bulletin Board”, and things being said are very radical. People have been trashing the cops and claiming that as a whole, they are corrupt. This is the most hate I have seen towards the police in a while. As for my opinion, I can understand where they are coming from, but I don’t believe we can blame every single police officer. There are plenty of officers that I know who are respectful and amazing people.
After these events, I still think there are a lot of unanswered questions in society. How do we make sure this doesn’t happen again? Do violent protests help promote change? Who will step up and lead this civil rights movement? The issue of racism has struck again, and we need to diminish it soon, or else the flames will continue to burn everyone.
Coronavirus has changed communication entirely and put my future in more uncertainty. The power of human interaction and connection has unfortunately slid into the shadows. Those endless conversations with friends and teachers that put a smile on my face have disappeared. For me, making memories is what drives my life, so life is very dull at the moment. Trapped inside my house, I feel powerless and unable to find that feeling inside of myself of pure enjoyment and love for life. In my opinion, we are living in the future: technology all around us, overtaking the need for a real person to person interaction. It is saddening and disallows everyone to “live in the moment” and experience the enlightening, colorful world around us. We have almost said goodbye to our lives for a couple months, not knowing the exact time in which we will return to the glorious lives that we previously had thrived in. I miss just about everything: friends, relatives, playing soccer, eating good food at restaurants, watching sports, swimming in a pool, going to the beach, and many more things. I have not driven in two months, for there is nowhere to go!
I am very worried about what the future will hold. I have a lot of questions that have so far been unanswered, and will continue to linger until the re-opening plan has allowed us to return to our normal lives. Will I have a soccer season in the fall? What will happen to my high school GPA? Will I have the opportunity to take the SAT? Will next school year be online, or in person? How do I visit colleges and decide where I want to go? Honestly, I hope everyday we climb closer to ending this. I am sick of looking at my computer for hours and hours each day. My biggest worry is getting into the college that is the right fit for me. I really wish that life will be normal by the time I go to college. I want to be able to have that valuable college experience that I have been looking forward to for years.
While this unprecedented situation has come with many losses, it also serves as a time to get things done, and maybe pursue hobbies that you never would have had the chance to do. I have taken up cooking and baking. I make my family dinner twice a week, and I have made some delicious meals. I am now the master griller in my family. Furthermore, I have all the time to run, ride my bike, and workout. Therefore, I have made it my goal to get super fit during the spring and summer, in preparation for soccer season, which will hopefully not get canceled. I believe that now is the time to get ahead on everything. I want to study in the business field in college, so I have been reading business-related books, and watching business lessons. I have created a list of goals for the summer: get a big head start on college applications, get really good at Spanish, get fitness to be insane. All of these are things I can do now to make life easier in the future. Since there are currently no ways to make epic memories, I have started a project where I can highlight bright moments in the past that provide happiness. I am finding all the pictures I can of my past, so that I can easily access them in the future and show them to my future children. This makes me forget about the global pandemic, and makes me remember the happy times in my life.
Ryan, June 2020
The recent events over the past week have been absolutely horrific. While many people argue that the violent protests, where people have fought against the police and set fires in police cars and surrounding stores, are an insufficient way to get a point across, I completely disagree. I do not support violence, but I have no right to judge how these protestors get their anger out. The video of the cop digging his knee into George Floyd’s neck is appalling to me. Floyd had no weapons, and was not fighting back, just fighting to breathe. I watched this video over and over again, saddened by the treatment of this African American individual. He did not deserve to die. The following protests, violent or not, should not be criticized by white people. I could give my opinion on the matter, but it is not my place to speak out. I am a privileged white male who lives in a grand house, and spends money on things I want. I am not an African American, of whom such a disproportion are living in poverty, where they struggle to buy things that they need. I have not experienced oppression, so I can not empathize with this matter. I can read about it and picture how it feels if I were a black, but I cannot have the true feeling of racism in action. Violence is obviously terrible, but the protests have every right to be violent and to continue to be violent. Police brutality is violent, so protests respond with violence.
I remember learning about the “Black Lives Matter” movement, and I was distraught. All of these innocent black men losing their lives due to police believing they are superior. This incident added to this problem with racism around the world. Just when you think coronavirus is the worst problem our world has right now, racism blasts out of nowhere to cause the world to go crazy. I am in a Facebook group called “Wayland Bulletin Board”, and things being said are very radical. People have been trashing the cops and claiming that as a whole, they are corrupt. This is the most hate I have seen towards the police in a while. As for my opinion, I can understand where they are coming from, but I don’t believe we can blame every single police officer. There are plenty of officers that I know who are respectful and amazing people.
After these events, I still think there are a lot of unanswered questions in society. How do we make sure this doesn’t happen again? Do violent protests help promote change? Who will step up and lead this civil rights movement? The issue of racism has struck again, and we need to diminish it soon, or else the flames will continue to burn everyone.