What will life be like after the pandemic is over? No one knows for sure. Perhaps we’ll remember the year 2020 as the year of change when we all changed in many different ways: physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
2020 will be remembered as the year of unpredictable events. Starting with the Australian forest fires and leading up to the current forest fires in California, we live in a world with a deteriorating climate, as well as a pandemic. With the first case of coronavirus originating from Wuhan, China, nobody would’ve imagined it spreading so vastly and negatively impacting the entire globe.
On January 20, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the spread of the COVID-19 to be a public health emergency, and various countries implemented a lockdown. Academic institutions were closed, and malls became empty. Businesses faced losses, and marriages were postponed. Some people lost their loved ones, and others are still waiting to meet their families in other countries.
Every day, we go to bed with a feeling of uncertainty, because we are all afraid of contracting the deadly virus. We are all afraid of passing the germs on to our grandparents and children. We are all afraid of losing our loved ones to COVID-19 because even though the chances of survival are high, the chances of dying are higher.
In 2019, we could never have imagined what 2020 had in store for us. We welcomed the new year with a massive celebration of fireworks and family gatherings, but we did not realize that almost half a year would pass by without us being able to feel the closeness of a group again. When was the last time we hugged our friends and family members? When was the last time we felt the warmth of a lover or a friend without the fear of infecting one another?
Have you ever wondered what life will be like after COVID-19 is over? Will we hug each other more often and spend time with each other, instead of spending hours scrolling through social media? I wonder if the coronavirus has taught us the most valuable lesson of all: that we are all one.
COVID-19 did not only affect a single nation, religion, or country. It affected the entire world: the poor, the rich, the smart ones, and the differently-abled. It spared no one. I hope that after this pandemic is over, we all learn to be kind.
There is nothing worse than spending the last moments of your life inside a glass room as you reminisce about all of the moments that have passed as a strange feeling of sorrow and pain encompasses you. What will life be like after the pandemic is over? No one knows for sure. Perhaps we’ll remember the year 2020 as the year of change when we all changed in many different ways: physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
However, let’s not forget the lessons it taught us: life is unpredictable, and you never know what tomorrow holds, so appreciate the gift of a new day and cherish each person the universe sends your way. You never know until how much longer you have to live. So just live.