One year later and here we are. In light of ever-mounting problems, a seemingly impossibly complex and ever-evolving virus, and perpetual society-wide political disagreements, it’s easy to say that nothing’s changed. And perhaps nothing has. Because one year later and here we are. Here we still are.
One year ago, the writings were plastered explicitly on the walls. I think we all knew, to a certain extent, that the COVID-19 pandemic was brewing to be something monumental. However, I can also say, that even if we did know the tremendous effect the pandemic would have on our lives, the ensuing year remained nonetheless unforeseen and unprecedented.
No one knew it was going to be like this. No one wanted it to be like this.
Deep in our hearts, we all wanted to be a little more optimistic. That lockdowns would only last weeks, maybe months, max. That, with proper planning and a little discipline, countries could make do with what they have and mitigate the pandemic’s ramifications. That, with a threat that threatens humanity, people would unite under a unified banner of health, safety, and life. Or maybe that’s just the optimist in me thinking all those thoughts, trying its hardest to battle its way out of the muck it's been gradually pummeled into.
Almost a year ago I wrote: “Yet, with all that being said, humanity, for better or for worse, always finds a way. In times wherein we, as a species, have been threatened, we have always survived, that’s why we’ve made it this far. If only we find a way to leave our quarrels behind us, enact sensible, informed, and rational leadership, and learn to help one another in these times of strife, then we have nothing to worry about.”
I’m unsurprisingly disappointed at how wrong I was.
Divides were deepened not mended. Infections escalated in correlation with systemic incompetence. Lives were lost because of vile agendas and gross amounts of misinformation. Rational leadership grew to be as rare as pirate’s treasure. And the path forward is forged on faulty policies and an increasing number of corpses quantified simply as numbers on an infographic.
How many dreams were shattered by COVID-19?
How many promotions were halted? How many relationships permanently ended? How many businesses forced to shut down? How many students forced to quit school? How many families broken apart? How many seniors compelled to live out the last remaining years of their lives in utter isolation when all they really wanted was to see their families again?
If I had a glimpse through time to see what the world would be like, I wouldn’t have believed my own eyes. To see people living life normally as thousands die because of ignorance and negligence. Of course the world has to move forward, it always does with or without you and me, but I didn’t think it’d progress to a future where you and I would be relegated to utter insignificance.
The Earth spins in an undying perpetual rotation, as we keep on traveling from present to future. We must travel. We must. Though I feel as if the road we walk is paved by the skeletons of those who have come before us and those who have suffered mostly in silence. And that the wheel is manned by individuals who have lavish desires with incredibly vapid substance, we must move forward regardless.
Yet one day the skeletons will pile until humanity can move forward no longer.
Until that day comes, we still have the luxury to blind ourselves from the weight of humanity’s past and foregoing present. To remain arrogant in our ways and to continuously convince ourselves that we will always be okay, despite reality telling us otherwise.
If we could hear dreams shattering perhaps the air would be filled with the sound of a thousand breaking vases. If we could quantify the weight of ambition COVID has robbed us of, perhaps Atlas may soon feel weary. If we could measure the depth that dreams could have, perhaps heaven and hell would not be far out of reach.
I wish I spent more time the way I wanted to. But I guess the lack of knowledge of the future is what makes the present so special, despite reality telling me otherwise.
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