Dear Everyone,
Our college time has been cut short. Our graduations have been ripped away. Our friends are scattered around the country and some of us are now job hunting in a recession.
The last two months of senior year are supposed to be the culmination of our four years of college and a time to process the closing one chapter of our lives and starting the next one. Instead, this time will be filled with online lectures and state-imposed lockdowns.
Here’s the thing: the class of 2020 is incredibly intelligent. We’re capable and smart and will have a degree from the University of Notre Dame, even if it is given virtually. This means that we know that there is absolutely nothing that can be done about this. A global pandemic is out of everyone’s hands—students, administrators, world leaders. We know that giving up senior spring and graduation is a small price to pay to save so many lives and that far worse things have happened to far better people. We know that these cancellations are absolutely necessary for the greater good and that we are being responsible citizens by practicing socially distancing. We know that leaving Notre Dame still would have been a huge monumental loss even if we had had seven more weeks and a proper graduation ceremony.
But knowing all of that, and understanding all of that, in no way makes this loss less painful. This loss and its accompanying grief are not things that any of us can logic our way through and will not be any less devastating any time soon. At best, I will be processing this loss for the next six months. At worst, for the rest of my life.
So, please, think about your words when you speak to a member of the class of 2020. There might be lessons and life moments in this loss, but that’s not what we need to hear right now, or at least not what I need to hear right now. Trying to find the silver lining in all of this just makes me feel like you’re not recognizing how heartbreaking this is for me—that you don’t comprehend the magnitude of this loss or that you underestimate my ability to understand why this is necessary. I don’t want silver linings or life lessons or logic; I just want love, compassion and the space to grieve. Please be patient with me, and with the entire class of 2020 as we all work through this.
Sincerely,
A member of the class of 2020