By: Mariam Malik
For all the people who told me to cherish everything - including things I had not seen as important - why in the world did I not take you more seriously? With the pandemic around eight months and counting, it’s definitely becoming harder and harder to know what I wouldn’t give to live normally again. Things that were so normal before, such as going to school, shopping, and meeting up with friends, are now an anomaly, things that have been taken for granted.
Admittedly, at first, there were things to look forward to, such as the sound of traffic as cars honk angrily on the freeway, the loud horn of trains chugging past the barts, and the deafening sound of airplanes flying overhead disappearing almost suddenly. The earth seemed to let out a sigh of contentment with the smog fading away and the heavy strain on its resources dissipating. But now, with quarantine lasting months, many have given up on staying cooped up in their homes, and the air quality is back to normal, mostly.
Before people would say ‘bless you’ if you sneezed in public, now they look at you like you’re a radioactive bomb, and maybe their apprehension is justified, but sitting at home with my gaze fixed on the ceiling, hearing the seconds tick by from the clock hanging on the wall, I can’t help but feel that some people are taking things a little too far. Everyone will die eventually, that is something that is set in stone, inevitable, unchangeable, and inescapable. Of course, that doesn’t mean that one readily jumps in the way of danger, one must do what they can to stay safe, but panicking and overreacting helps no one. Maybe the plight is a lesson in disguise; to appreciate even the simplest of things. The ability to go outside, to hug friends, to assemble together, to visit relatives over far distances, and considerably many more things, all without a pandemic virus that hangs in the air like a grim specter, petrifying millions.
Despite the lack of going out and living life normally and the grim situation we are all in right now, it could be much worse. Many of us have it way better than most and the only thing we can really do, not only in this situation but in all the times to come, is to appreciate what do have and to help those who are not as for
tunate, in any way we can. This doesn’t mean only those who are sick or those who are in need of financial aid because people hurt in so many more ways than that. Despite the pandemic, despite the quarantine, there is always a way to help someone else. Even if it is as small as simply staying home to protect others. In other words, “any gesture of kindness can reach a wound that only compassion can heal.”