All of it together will be something to remember

Spring feels like winter these days. The seasons have seemed to confuse one another. Winter blues have made their mark on spring. Staggering statistics rise with more bad news. It feels as if the new day brings old news. Rinse and repeat. Although professors, administrators and faculty continue to lend kindly to the comfort of us as students, there is no faking it–we are all scared. We are all unsure. No one knows exactly when this whole nightmare will end, when days will be sunny with real sun again, and when winter will stay out of spring’s business. Summer’s shining glory has been interrupted by this COVID-19 haze. We are all asking, together as one, when days will feel warm again.

In the meantime, the human race has learned a bit more about the need for community, human interaction and the danger in isolation. Story on top of story, we come to find people longing for one another, deeply moved by the dissatisfaction that social media brings. It is quite intriguing how things have changed. One estimate in calculating the future after the Coronavirus passes, would be to say that upon returning to civilization people might keep their eyes on one another rather than their electronic devices. Will the problem of “phone face” minimize? 

Another hypothesis relating to post-Coronavirus days, would be to say the majority of people who are spending these months alone will look back on the days as one big “blur.” This can happen when one experiences a traumatic event, as well as multiple anticlimactic days in a row.

In this case, if your season of quarantine was blurred out of your memory later on, the question is: What would you want to remember? Are there little things that bring joy in the ultra-mundane? Are you experiencing moments of laughter, running or playing like a child again? Have you learned something new? Have you developed an interest in something that has surprised you? Have you had an awkward video call? Among all of these ups and downs, there surely has to be one thing worth remembering. In the longing for one another, in recognizing that social media can only satisfy the human mind so much, we must acknowledge the good things. It is good that we are made for each other. It is good that we are made to be in community. It is good that we can pick a flower from the day that winter is invading spring and call it something good to remember.

Quarantine and social distancing have been shared burdens here at Hope College and around the globe. We are with each other in mourning. We are beside each other in the efforts of celebrating the smallest of things. All of it together will be something to remember. Winter will pass. The sun will shine in all of its glimmer and glory once more.

Click here to view the Corona Chronicles StoryMap