Even before writing it, I’m pretty sure everyone knows what this will be about. Just a week ago, lives were turned upside down: students learned they were leaving the lives they’ve made at school to come, parents were preparing to move their students out of the dorms, and back into their houses. Jobs were lost, corporations were shut down, people moved. The people stayed inside, but the world kept moving. With the sudden, stark transition, everyone was scrambling to learn how to continue their normal lives on-screen or within a 6-foot radius of one another.
The news was met with anger by most, but as information came out, it was then met with acceptance and understanding. Even though we are apart, I have never seen the world work together as a community more than I have in the past week. I’ve seen everyone under the sun offer help: professors and faculty at Rhodes were offering assistance in storage or temporary housing, students were offering to drive strangers across the country so they could get home safely. On a large scale, I saw transportation companies offering ways for students to get home, or ways for them to store their belongings. I have seen churches, support groups, and counseling offices offer Zoom and Skype meetings, gyms have offered online workouts, remembering that your physical and mental wellbeing is just as important as keeping your community safe.
I think about my Rhodes community, and how I miss walking around the beautiful campus in the warm weather, petting PJ the cat, and even staying up late in the library studying with friends. However, even in these moments of sadness and uncertainty, I’m met with just how grateful I am for the memories I’ve made there, and that I have a community that I miss. I’m grateful for a community that has offered so much support and love. Social Distancing does not mean social isolation: it means forming a community so strong that it can withstand a lack of face-to-face communication.
Right now, life is confusing and stressful. There’s no getting around it. However, I hope that you can take a look at all that you do have, and hold onto the communities in your life working together.