It’s been hard to get a sense of what this year has really handed to us and how we are supposed to deal with it. We’ve been pushed into this unending abyss and have had to try and navigate between what’s up and what’s down. Last September I was starting my first year of university, moving to a new town, meeting new people, and getting to delve into subjects that I love. Never would I have guessed that the school would close and my parents would call me one afternoon saying I have to move home early because there’s a global pandemic. So, like many, I’ve had to adjust and figure out where to go next.
My family consists of mostly health care workers. My dad is a family and maternity doctor who started up his own family practice in our town, my oldest sister is a nurse practitioner who just started working at my dad’s clinic, my other sister is a maternity nurse who just got accepted into UBC’s nurse practitioner course, and although my mom was an accounting teacher, she left the education route and now runs the accounting aspect of the medical clinic. Surprise, Surprise that many found it very strange when I announced that I wanted to get my Arts degree with a major in History. When coronavirus came to Canada, my family couldn’t just stop working, my dad had patients he needed to see and although many of the clinics in our town closed their doors, he just couldn’t. My entire family continued to work for the community. I did the most I could to help, which basically involved just trying my hardest not to get sick and infect my family members as well as helping my mom with the work she was doing. I took that up as a summer job which meant I had to go into the clinic every day, for the most part I would be tucked into the basement where my mom’s office is and have no contact with anyone but her, but some days I would be put on the receptionist job, checking people in. Here I saw how this entire situation has brought out different sides of people. There are the anti-maskers, who would sooner spit on those who tell them masks are mandatory than just putting it on. We’d get people throwing tantrums and storming out. Some, who I swear just try to make everyone’s lives ten times harder, would refuse to wear a mask but also refuse to leave. These situations are when the police would have to be called to remove them. You’d get the “Karen’s” who cuss you out, the people who will get into you face just to prove a point, etc. Now I get it, masks aren’t exactly what I want to be wearing on my face all day, every day but when these situations would occur I would always want to ask these people a few questions…
Do you think we wanted this to happen?
Are we the ones who made it a rule?
Do you want everyone to get sick?
Are you that selfish that you’d put the community at risk?
And
How would you feel if you found out you were the reason someone passed away just because it made you feel uncomfortable?
When I consider these questions, and what people’s responses would be I always force myself to remember that we’re in a pressing time and these people might not realize what they’re doing. Everyone has bad days and most of the time people need to take their anger out on someone or something, even if it is the medical clinics receptionist. Sometime it’s hard to have the right attitude towards something. I think many went onto quarantines or lockdowns with a sense of dread, obviously predicting the excessive amounts of boredom they’re about to endure. However, I like to think of quarantine as a chance to refresh and work on myself. All over social media, you can see people who dedicated the time to working out and focusing on changing their eating habits. You see people taking advantage of not having to be social and instead eating whatever the hell they want and hanging out in their pajamas all day (Pretty much the route I took). It was a chance to read the books you could never get around to, or reread all your favorites (Also the route I took). A chance to sit down and write, binge watch Netflix shows, do some online classes, etc. In my sister’s case, she decided to take full advantage of the time at home and decided her and her boyfriend were ready to get a puppy. I think this was the best decision they could have ever made and I fully supported them, offering up by puppy-sitting services whenever they would need it (He’s the puppy you see at the top of this paragraph, couldn’t quite figure out how to move it down). So, a golden retriever was added to the family, his name is Kisner, and my own puppy, Harley, got a new best friend. Don’t worry I won’t be mean and not provide a photo of the both of them. Getting a puppy has definitely kept my family busy for quite a while now, he’s definitely added a lot of love into our household.
Besides a whole lot of puppy lovin’, it is hard to keep a positive mind about what is going on in the world around us. Many have fallen into depression due to the loneliness of this all, many are saying they just can’t write, if it’s because there’s no inspiration around them or they can’t motivate themselves to do much throughout the day. It is a hard road we have to travel, but we are all travelling it together and hopefully at some point, we can make it out together.
I believe that the aesthetic of 2020, our “2020 vision”, consists of frustration. Frustration for everything that is going on in the world today. Specifically, for coronavirus, frustration at those who aren’t following the restrictions, who aren’t staying at home, who are gathering with friends and having parties. The frustration people are feeling when another lockdown is set, when an announcement comes out that another semester will be online. The frustration of feeling totally helpless even though it’s our own selfish actions as well as our neighbors that are prolonging this pandemic. The anger you feel when you hear someone say “COVID’s not a thing anymore” just because they don’t feel responsible for following the rules. People have their own opinions, their own morals, but the main thing we have to keep in mind is that people are dying. That frustration isn’t just coming from people who want to leave the house and want this all to be over, frustration is also coming from those who are losing loved ones and watching people carrying on like death isn’t as important as going out to a restaurant for dinner.
We live in a different time, with social media and technology controlling our lives it has made drastic changes to how the world responds to disasters like this. Wether it is in a positive or negative light, social media has allowed us to see what is going on it the world, to keep communication with friends and family, to continue our schooling even when classes aren’t allowed in person, and to keep us busy. No matter how this turns out or what happens with the upcoming years, i’m glad i had the chance to experience this time, and this course, with the rest of you.