I was the first of my friends to see the notification on my phone: “School Cancelled Through Next Week Due to COVID-19 Virus.” It was the message we, as high school seniors, had been waiting for throughout the week of spring break. Immediately after hearing the news, we all excitedly made plans for the next week. After all, who wouldn’t want an extended spring break..?
And now, here we are. Six months into the global pandemic that none of us saw coming. Six months into the killings and riots and protests that have sparked a demand for change across the world. Surrounded by the devastation of natural disasters and violence worldwide.
I want so badly to complain. I want to cry about how this virus stole my senior year and my first college experiences. I want to whine about how my shift into adulthood has been so drastically impacted by politics, riots, and natural disasters. I want the world to know how my life has been so terribly affected by today’s events.
But after a few deep breaths, I take a moment and think. I think about my sister, who was separated from the love of her life for five painstakingly long months due to the threatening virus. Whose wedding has been postponed again and again without any promise or guarantee of commencement. I think of my aunt, who is currently receiving a sort of chemotherapy due to a mysterious illness that struck her when the pandemic entered full swing. I think of the thousands of families worldwide who have lost loved ones not only from the virus but as a result of police brutality and the natural disasters that are sweeping the world.
I cannot complain. I am healthy. I graduated. I started college. Sure, I have to wear a mask, and I might not be able to have some of those initial college experiences, but I am so lucky.
So to those of you who, like me, have questioned why all of this is happening right now, right when we should be experiencing those things that make the journey into adulthood so valuable, I offer some advice: take a deep breath. Consider your situation and how it compares to those of others who are not as lucky at this time. Rather than focusing on all of the things that today’s circumstances have prevented you from doing, focus on what you can do. We were put here, in this place, and at this time for a reason. That reason being change. The world is crying out for change, and we are the generation that must hear that cry and do something about it. So whether that means voting, protesting, wearing a mask, or simply being kind to others, it is time to take action. Despite the despair and the devastation that the world is feeling right now, we can be the change. As Alessia Cara so powerfully put it, “out of the darkness, we can shine.”