Why 2020 Grads Should Feel More Hopeful Than Hopeless Coming Out Of The COVID-19 Pandemic
The pandemic hit Wuhan, China on November 17, 2020 on a relatively sunny day where temperatures neared 60 degrees fahrenheit. Little did anyone know that this day would mark the beginning of a new and different world. At the time I was in the middle of my fall term at Pacific Lutheran University finishing up my senior year of my undergraduate degree in Communication and Business. While working towards the completion of my degrees, I held two work-study positions where I served as a notetaker for the disability services and the public address announcer for athletic events. I was also a student-athlete coming off of a rough season of cross country which tested me physically and mentally more than ever before. There was a lot going on at the time. . . or so I thought. The 2019 fall semester was busy to say the least and it kept me on my toes constantly. Winter break came and went fast as usual. Then January term rolled around. This is when my world flipped upside down. I literally felt like I was living in the upside-down from Stranger Things. I had a strange feeling stirring inside me as I went through the motions of the new year. The mood felt dimmer then normal. There was an unsettling haze in the air. I couldn’t pinpoint it exactly but I could tell something was off. It felt like I was in a Harry Potter scene in the Forbidden Forest where Harry and friends were being chased by death eaters. The constant rain in Tacoma, Washington didn’t help either or the fact that my girlfriend Sarah was 1 million miles away on the other side of the country enjoying the sunshine and beaches of Uruguay. Anyways, I got a sense something was happening and I didn’t know what. During j-term or “January term”, I took a course called Fake News that made me more aware of current events happening in the world. Perfect and horrible timing really. I learned about past political regimes that molded our country into its state today and focused on the evolution of journalism over time. I was intrigued by what I was learning from the class and wanted to get involved- so I began following news media pages on social media. I learned about Greta and her activism in political and climate issues. I followed both right wing and left wing accounts to get a better understanding of both perspectives. I’ve grown up in a family where half the family supports right-wing agendas and the other half supports left-wing agendas. I then came across some news feeds that covered a virus called the “Coronavirus”. I ignorantly thought, “that’s probably going to go away like Ebola did” like many of the memes on social media mocked. Clearly I was mistaken. Every morning, afternoon and night I would check my Instagram to check-in on evolving stories around the world- sports, technology, political, etc. I wanted to be present. Then I began to eaves drop on conversations around school. I wasn’t the only one aware of the emergence of the coronavirus. From what seemed like a laughing stock of the school for a couple of weeks turned into a very serious situation worldwide very quickly. Li-Wenliang, the whistleblower that warned China of the virus became infected and died shortly after while treating patients in Wuhan. After this, the world had its eyes on China and people took notice of the peculiar virus. It was a curious virus in that it affected all ages, but targeted individuals 65 years or older and people with pre-determined health conditions. It’s a virus that has similarities with others from the past but left us questioning its targets. Some people contracted the virus but felt no symptoms- asymptotic, and it left others fighting for their life on hospital beds or waiting desperately on door-fronts in need of medical attention. This was the real thing. A real-life scenario of what felt like The Purge. In the streets of China people were dying and body bags were piling up. All the world could do was watch and take note and prepare for what was to come. Even then that wasn’t enough. I watched, read, and learned about what was happening through the voices of professors, school faculty, Sarah, friends, family, and the news, and still didn’t know just how much my life and many others would change forever. I watched as the Coronavirus swept through all of China and into Europe. It was relentless and wiped out Europe in a matter of weeks. I remember waking up every morning and watching the pandemic-meter death tolls rise all over the country and just waiting for the day it would arrive in the U.S. Sure enough it did. Originating in Washington state, the pandemic surfaced in a caregiver home not too far from Pacific Lutheran University. I remember talking to my long distance track teammates about it and jokingly speaking of how we would all have to leave school and live like we were citizens of the Hunger Games fighting for our survival. Well … we weren’t too far off. March 4th, 2020 rolled around and my first track meet of the year happened. It was a cloudy and misty day in Pudget Sound as I went on to tempo the 10,000 meters with a few of my teammates. Me and my teammates planned on hitting the qualifying mark for the Conference Championship meet because there was no need to push our limits this early on in the season. As true as that was, unfortunately that was the last time anyone would compete that year in a PLU singlet and the last time seniors would represent their school and demonstrate their body of work. March 7th, 2020 was a Sunday and I was with my girlfriend watching one of her closest friends Nate play ultimate frisbee on his collegiate team. It was a bright and sunny day with an ominous vibe to it. Sarah is well informed of everything going on in the world and follows closely to the events transpiring on a state, national, and world level. She informed me of how colleges were beginning to shut down because of fear of the virus and the precautionary measure to protect families of the potential dangers it brings. She even educated me on a lot of scientific research and statistical data so that I knew the seriousness of COVID-19. Stubbornly, I didn’t want to hear it because I didn’t want my last semester of college and athletics to be taken from me. She told me what I needed to hear and it frustrated me. She brought up valid points of people losing their lives and fighting to live another day, but I was lost and confused. I began questioning the world why everything was happening- especially after I had already fought through sickness and injuries all throughout summer, fall and winter. I asked questions like: Why was I being punished? Is this another test? Did I do something wrong? These were selfish questions because it felt like my senior year was taken from me. That for some reason, the world was out to get me- and this left me hurting inside and saddened more than ever before. However, like all things, you must get over them and I did. I accepted that this semester wasn’t going to be “normal”. I recognized that it was going to be challenging. I acknowledged that all my friends needed to go home as I stayed behind to focus in an academic setting that best benefited me. I coped with the thought that Sarah had to go home to her family and social distance. I had no choice but to accept that my track season would abruptly end and that my dream of going to track nationals was now just a fantasy. I didn’t want to accept it but it was the new normal. I’ve always looked at the world as a place where people are tested. A place where people are given options that are either right or wrong. A place where they have the ability to pave their own path and shape their own destiny. Never did I imagine that a pandemic would put the world on pause. It wasn’t until I graduated on May 24th, 2020 did I realize how much it transformed me and my peers. I became more self sufficient due to the lack of academic resources and guidance. I learned how to work independently by using online applications, virtual communication platforms, and social media. I realized that social distancing gave me more time to self reflect and adapt to the changes taking place around me. It was cool that the university took precautionary measures to keep everyone safe. It was cool that people found new approaches in socializing and having fun through Zoom. It was cool that me and my peers were being forced to see the light in the darkness by making the most out of what we had. It was cool that me and my roommates became more connected than ever before through playing basketball on the outdoor courts, watching Grim, and playing video games in our apartment. Of course there was also a day where I did cry because I wouldn’t graduate the “same way everyone else did”, but that was okay because it showed I cared. I’ve never been great at school and I’m not the smartest person in my pool of colleagues. However, I learned that I have heart, ambition, grit, and a relentless work ethic. My 4.0 gpa and near perfect Capstone grade for the Spring semester can attest to that. I don’t mean to gloat, but merely to illustrate my perspective on how I came away with more hope than I ever had prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s making people very uncomfortable. It’s testing businesses. It’s challenging our economy and bringing on innovation in how people can work from home. What I’ve learned from Covid-19 is that people are very capable of bringing out more optimism than pessimism out of a horrible situation. We’ve made it this far and we’ll come out okay. That’s what I say. Be hopeful, stay busy, learn something cool, and take time to reflect. Covid-19, you’ve changed me.
