Dear Coronavirus,
You should be flattered. In the duration of a few short weeks, you have become the media’s main spotlight — clogging news outlets and elevating America’s fear of your power across the country.
You have halted graduation for thousands of hard-working seniors, postponed weddings and honeymoons for deserving couples and put medical procedures on pause for those who have been waiting for months.
In all honesty, you suck. In the beginning of this, you had us all fooled. With the U.S. government mandating stay-at-home orders and advising citizens to social distance until further notice, nobody thought your power would climb up to this level.
Reaching 185 countries within the span of a few weeks, your fast-paced ability to spread is quite literally sickening. Why are you moving so fast? Why are you taking so many innocent and beautiful lives at such a fast pace?
Because of you, workers on the front line have been pushed to their limits. Working for countless hours on end, these fearless heroes have put their lives on the line to fight you off. In the midst of this, protestors have taken to the streets and protested quarantine efforts to prevent the spread. Will you ever have mercy? Will you ever end, so that our frontline heroes can finally catch a break from the damage you have done?
Although you have done some pretty messed up things to our world, I’d be crazy if I didn’t thank you for the good things that have come with you.
You have brought thousands of college students back to their homes, where they can spend quality time with their family. With the luxury of continuing education from the comfort of our own homes, you have helped Americans realize how lucky we are to live in such a tech-savvy country.
You have truly made us realize that simple and everyday things can be quite beautiful. Trust me…eating at a full restaurant, dancing at a concert and attending 8 a.m. classes will never be taken for granted again.
You have made us realize that just because we cannot meet in large groups, that does not mean that human connection has to go away. Zoom, FaceTime, Skype and other video-chat applications have ultimately saved us all in this quarantine. We couldn’t thank these companies enough for providing us with these alternative outlets to keep that human connection alive between our family and friends.
In the end, you put Blue and White, Movin’ On, the VALLEY25 launch party and Greek Parents weekend to a stop. You ruined my older sister’s college graduation and my younger sister’s senior prom. However, I’m not going to let you take away the importance of these events in my life today.
Our VALLEY launch party was on Zoom and the magazine is just as breathtaking as it is in person. My older sister is still going to walk and receive her diploma, whether that is in the Bryce Jordan Center (virtually!) or in our living room. My younger sister is still going to look beautiful for her senior prom, even though she has to dance in our living room.
Coronavirus, you may have taken these very important events from me and my family, but I refuse to give you the power to take away the significance of these long-awaited events.
Love,
A 19-Year-Old Who’s Staying Home
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