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Show Amanda Hatch April 20 2020. COVID-19 Impact on My Life "Everybody knows that pestilences have a way of recurring in the world, yet somehow we find it hard to believe in ones that crash down on our heads from a blue sky. There have been as many plagues as wars in history, yet always plagues and wars take people equally by surprise." I believe this quote from Albert Camus' novel, The Plague, perfectly sums up the role of the COVID-19 pandemic in my life. As I attended school throughout the beginning of the spring semester, I remember hearing about a disease in China that was cause for concern. Little did I know, this disease would change the rest of my semester as well as my life. Throughout the span of the presence of the Coronavirus, my life has changed in many ways, events and plans I have had have altered, people were brought into my sphere that have influenced my life, and the world may have fallen apart but everyone in it has come together. With the use of my personal experience and the novel, The Plague, by Albert Camus I hope to explain the impact of this global pandemic on my life. As I started my freshman year of college my plan was to serve a mission for my church. In the weeks before the pandemic made a significant appearance in the United States, I submitted my request form to serve. After submitting the form, a person should typically wait a few weeks before receiving an assignment from the church. When the University informed all of the students that it would be moving online, it was made clear that I would have to move out of the dorm rooms, start my schooling online, and expect a whole new schedule of normal. I still had not received my mission call and quite honestly I was not excited to. The day I got my call, I was sad, something I had been looking forward to for quite a while was now something I was dreading. I didn't feel like I was getting support from my family and friends because the virus had taken over all topics of conversation, friends and family were being sent home from their missions, and leaving didn't seem like much of an option for me. My blue sky, as Camu put it, had crashed down. Now I may not have contracted this life-threatening disease that many others are battling, but this pandemic has not had a light impact on my world. My plans for serving a mission have been altered so significantly I currently do not know if or when I will be serving due to the uncertainty of the virus. Plans that I was so excited for were squashed under the weight of the Coronavirus in everyone's life. Camu wrote,"From now on it can be said that plague was the concern of all of us." I believe this quote to be true as I have seen the country take all precautions to keep people safe. Schools have started having online classes, states have gone into complete lockdown, grocery stores are having shortened hours and specific shopping time for seniors, and the economy has started to plummet. Not only has the Coronavirus made everyone worried for their physical state but for the state of our economy, the state of our jobs, and the state of our future. Though my plans for the future are uncertain, I believe that many lessons can be learned from this situation. I have learned that oftentimes we cloud our minds with certain plans and expectations of reality that cannot quite be met. More often than not we find ourselves in situations that we did not plan nor can we control and it is more beneficial to have goals, but no concrete plan. Though the Coronavirus has had many negative consequences on my life, I have found a surprising light at the end of the tunnel. Moving home and weeks of quarantine does not sound like anyone's ideal lifestyle. Though for me, it has been my greatest reward. A couple of weeks before the pandemic sent everyone into a panic, I was set up on a blind date with an amazing boy. It turns out that he lives in my hometown and moving back home was a perfect excuse to see him. We both have been keeping our distance from society and spending our time together instead. With the world being shut down, most places are closed to implement social distancing. This has given us time to get to know each other without distractions from the outside world. Picnics in the backyard have become a saving grace and making dinner is my new favorite activity because I get to do it all with someone that I care for deeply. Without the changes that the pandemic brought I would not be in this situation. In a way the Coronavirus has put a damper on many things, but it has surprised me by placing bright light in my life named Silas. In a manner of days, the world fell apart. Schools started to close, toilet paper and canned goods became the most desirable items, everyone was asked to keep their distance, and media stations relied solely on the statistics of the infected. After the dust settled from the fight of trying to obtain the last roll of toilet paper, everyone has found themselves in the same situation. We all are forming a new sense of normal by vacationing to the living room from the kitchen, we all want to protect our families and friends at all costs, and we are all relying on each other to take precautions in order to "flatten the curve". Camu wrote, "No longer were there individual destinies; only a collective destiny, made of plague and emotions shared by all." We have found ourselves all mapping the same uncharted territory as we struggle through this pandemic. We all see the selflessness of neighbors shopping for others and the bravery of those working on the front line. The emotions are all the same, so as the world did fall apart everyone in it was brought together. Through Albert Camus' novel, The Plague, we see empathic comparisons that we all can relate to in our current circumstance. My life will forever be different because of the small rumor I had heard earlier this year but to my surprise not all of the outcomes were bad. My plans have been changed, people have made an unforgettable impact on my life, and society has been brought together as a result of our own plague. The blue sky we all had previous to the pandemic may have crashed down, and we all may be uncertain about our future, but it is not hard to find the lessons and light that will come out of this global crisis. |
