Draft 1
Too often events that are unpredictable and out of one’s control come along and smack you in the face. It ruins all your plans, everything you were looking forwards to, and can leave you hopeless moving forwards. Pandemics are one of these events, and no one expected the Corona virus to take this large of a toll on our population. Being forced to completely alter your lifestyle can be one of the most difficult things to do, especially when it happens so suddenly. In Tori’s essay What I’m Learning, she demonstrates how difficult altering your life can be on the fly, and the toll it can have on one’s mindset. Aside from the fear people face during this time, frustration can also be seen in many. Kenneth shows how emotions can get the best of us rightly so when people do not do their part to contribute to helping the community and ending a disaster in his piece COVID-19 Narrative. But despite everything happening, we have survived this before, and together we have the strength to do it again, but only if everyone is on the same page. In a recollection of the 1918 pandemic, Betty Somppi shares her experience of surviving the flu pandemic, and how families that did not keep an open mind or partake in measures that could have stopped the pandemic were not so lucky. At an intense time such as a pandemic, one can learn a lot by the emotions expressed and the action of yourself and others, but mental strength and cooperation will help return our lives to the calm state they were in before the panic.
The one thing that most people are afraid of is change, and COVID-19 brought more change in a number of weeks than anyone had every seen in years.
Draft #2
It’s Corona Time
Too often events that are unpredictable and out of one’s control come along and smack you in the face. It ruins all your plans, everything you were looking forwards to, and can leave you hopeless moving forwards. Pandemics are one of these events, and no one expected the Corona virus to take this large of a toll on our population. Being forced to completely alter your lifestyle can be one of the most difficult things to do, especially when it happens so suddenly. In Tori’s essay What I’m Learning, she demonstrates how difficult altering your life can be on the fly, and the toll it can have on one’s mindset. Aside from the fear people face during this time, frustration can also be seen in many. Kenneth shows how emotions can get the best of us rightly so when people do not do their part to contribute to helping the community and ending a disaster in his piece COVID-19 Narrative. But despite everything happening, we have survived this before, and together we have the strength to do it again, but only if everyone is on the same page. In a recollection of the 1918 pandemic, Betty Somppi shares her experience of surviving the flu pandemic, and how families that did not keep an open mind or partake in measures that could have stopped the pandemic were not so lucky. At an intense time such as a pandemic, one can learn a lot by the emotions expressed and the action of yourself and others, but mental strength and cooperation will help return our lives to the calm state they were in before the panic.
The one thing that most people are afraid of is change, and COVID-19 brought more change in several weeks than anyone had every seen in years. People are now working from home, students are taking classes completely online, all businesses and restaurants are shut down and people cannot leave there houses unless necessary. No one knows when this will end, and this inability to know our future can stir up a lot of emotions in people. Things like fear and panic settle in our minds, and a sense of disbelief is constantly looming above our heads. In Tori’s piece she explains the mixed emotions that were shown when the news that things were changing in school was announced. When learning that her dorm was forced to evacuate, she states “Faces of disgust, fear, fake smiles, and so much more… Faces go blank, heads start spinning, and everyone turns white as a ghost” (Tori). I understand how scary and crazy it must have been to have to leave the place you called home for many months. I can deeply resonate with these feelings because I experienced them too when I was forced to evacuate campus. I remember feeling so sad and upset when the news came out. I never imagined that things would have gotten this bad. I did not get to say goodbye to my friends or my roommates or make closure with my sophomore year in college and it hurt me to have to leave everything behind. But I learned from this experience not only about myself but about those around me. Despite all of my hardships transferring to a new school, and taking college classes, I never knew how much I actually loved being at school until I was forced to give it up. The level of difficulty that comes with having to make this lifestyle adjustment can often allow people to struggle and ultimately fail, but I learned how resilient I am as a person to continue to exceed in my classes, how resilient my friends classmates are to make this adjustment and support one another along the way. I learned how compassionate my teachers and community are to try and help everyone during this difficult time.
Sometimes I still have a feeling of disbelief wash over me when I am alone with my thoughts, or get a break in the day, and have time to think about how much my life has changed. But this pandemic has shown me we have much more strength to overcome this obstacle than we credit ourselves with.
800 words-
It’s Corona Time
Too often events that are unpredictable and out of one’s control come along and smack you in the face. It ruins all your plans, everything you were looking forwards to, and can leave you hopeless moving forwards. Pandemics are one of these events, and no one expected the Corona virus to take this large of a toll on our population. Being forced to completely alter your lifestyle can be one of the most difficult things to do, especially when it happens so suddenly. In Tori’s essay What I’m Learning, she demonstrates how difficult altering your life can be on the fly, and the toll it can have on one’s mindset. Aside from the fear people face during this time, frustration can also be seen in many. Kenneth shows how emotions can get the best of us rightly so when people do not do their part to contribute to helping the community and ending a disaster in his piece COVID-19 Narrative. But despite everything happening, we have survived this before, and together we have the strength to do it again, but only if everyone is on the same page. In a recollection of the 1918 pandemic, Betty Somppi shares her experience of surviving the flu pandemic, and how families that did not keep an open mind or partake in measures that could have stopped the pandemic were not so lucky. At an intense time such as a pandemic, one can learn a lot by the emotions expressed and the action of yourself and others, but mental strength and cooperation will help return our lives to the calm state they were in before the panic.
The one thing that most people are afraid of is change, and COVID-19 brought more change in several weeks than anyone had every seen in years. People are now working from home, students are taking classes completely online, all businesses and restaurants are shut down and people cannot leave there houses unless necessary. No one knows when this will end, and this inability to know our future can stir up a lot of emotions in people. Things like fear and panic settle in our minds, and a sense of disbelief is constantly looming above our heads. In Tori’s piece she explains the mixed emotions that were shown when the news that things were changing in school was announced. When learning that her dorm was forced to evacuate, she states “Faces of disgust, fear, fake smiles, and so much more… Faces go blank, heads start spinning, and everyone turns white as a ghost” (Tori). I understand how scary and crazy it must have been to have to leave the place you called home for many months. I can deeply resonate with these feelings because I experienced them too when I was forced to evacuate campus. I remember feeling so sad and upset when the news came out. I never imagined that things would have gotten this bad. I did not get to say goodbye to my friends or my roommates or make closure with my sophomore year in college and it hurt me to have to leave everything behind. But I learned from this experience not only about myself but about those around me. Despite all of my hardships transferring to a new school, and taking college classes, I never knew how much I actually loved being at school until I was forced to give it up. The level of difficulty that comes with having to make this lifestyle adjustment can often allow people to struggle and ultimately fail, but I learned how resilient I am as a person to continue to exceed in my classes, how resilient my friends classmates are to make this adjustment and support one another along the way. I learned how compassionate my teachers and community are to try and help everyone during this difficult time. It’s heartwarming to find people that do good even when we are struggling.
Despite all the good going around during a time like a pandemic, and the amount of help that is being offered, this time can be very frustrated to others, and rightly so. Not all our emotional responses are positive, and some of them can drive us to make decisions that are not in the best interest of ourselves and those around us. Everyone was forced to pick up what was normal, and abandon it, and we have the right to be angry and hurt about it. However, most of our frustration comes from observing others, not so much our own actions.
Sometimes I still have a feeling of disbelief wash over me when I am alone with my thoughts, or get a break in the day, and have time to think about how much my life has changed. But this pandemic has shown me we have much more strength to overcome this obstacle than we credit ourselves with.
Draft 3
Too often events that are unpredictable and out of one’s control come along and smack you in the face. It ruins all your plans, everything you were looking forwards to, and can leave you hopeless moving forwards. Pandemics are one of these events, and no one expected the Corona virus to take this large of a toll on our population. Being forced to completely alter your lifestyle can be one of the most difficult things to do, especially when it happens so suddenly. In Tori’s essay What I’m Learning, she demonstrates how difficult altering your life can be on the fly, and the toll it can have on one’s mindset. Aside from the fear people face during this time, frustration can also be seen in many. Kenneth shows how emotions can get the best of us rightly so when people do not do their part to contribute to helping the community and ending a disaster in his piece COVID-19 Narrative. But despite everything happening, we have survived this before, and together we have the strength to do it again, but only if everyone is on the same page. In a recollection of the 1918 pandemic, Betty Somppi shares her experience of surviving the flu pandemic, and how families that did not keep an open mind or partake in measures that could have stopped the pandemic were not so lucky. At an intense time such as a pandemic, one can learn a lot by the emotions expressed and the action of yourself and others, but mental strength and cooperation will help return our lives to the calm state they were in before the panic.
The one thing that most people are afraid of is change, and COVID-19 brought more change in several weeks than anyone had every seen in years. People are now working from home, students are taking classes completely online, all businesses and restaurants are shut down and people cannot leave there houses unless necessary. No one knows when this will end, and this inability to know our future can stir up a lot of emotions in people. Things like fear and panic settle in our minds, and a sense of disbelief is constantly looming above our heads. In Tori’s piece she explains the mixed emotions that were shown when the news that things were changing in school was announced. When learning that her dorm was forced to evacuate, she states “Faces of disgust, fear, fake smiles, and so much more… Faces go blank, heads start spinning, and everyone turns white as a ghost” (Tori). I understand how scary and crazy it must have been to have to leave the place you called home for many months. I can deeply resonate with these feelings because I experienced them too when I was forced to evacuate campus. I remember feeling so sad and upset when the news came out. I never imagined that things would have gotten this bad. I did not get to say goodbye to my friends or my roommates or make closure with my sophomore year in college and it hurt me to have to leave everything behind. But I learned from this experience not only about myself but about those around me. Despite all of my hardships transferring to a new school, and taking college classes, I never knew how much I actually loved being at school until I was forced to give it up. The level of difficulty that comes with having to make this lifestyle adjustment can often allow people to struggle and ultimately fail, but I learned how resilient I am as a person to continue to exceed in my classes, how resilient my friends classmates are to make this adjustment and support one another along the way. I learned how compassionate my teachers and community are to try and help everyone during this difficult time. It’s heartwarming to find people that do good even when we are struggling.
Despite all the good going around during a time like a pandemic, and the amount of help that is being offered, this time can be very frustrated to others, and rightly so. Not all our emotional responses are positive, and some of them can drive us to make decisions that are not in the best interest of ourselves and those around us. Everyone was forced to pick up what was normal, and abandon it, and we have the right to be angry and hurt about it. However, most of our frustration comes from observing others, not so much our own actions. There are some people who are not taking this seriously, and their denial causes them to make the bad decisions of still going out and meeting up with friends which ultimately continues the spread of this disease. In Kenneth’s piece about what he has learned he wisely puts “I know many others along with myself find this extremely upsetting because we have been taking a lot of precautions to try and keep out families safe from the virus, and it seems as if these families who haven’t quarantined have minimal regard for the health of others in our community” (Kenneth). I can understand the frustration he feels when people do not act appropriately during this time, and often find myself overcome with rage when I see people out and about. I feel like I am back in kindergarten and the entire class is losing recess time because a few students refuse to listen. It is denial and disregard for others that cause people to behave like this and make these reckless decisions that may literally kill people.
We can look at examples from the last pandemic to see what tactics were successful and unsuccessful in beating a pandemic. One of the overarching commonalities between recollections from survivors, was that everyone was on the same page about the problem and cooperating to end the pandemic. In her story she shares how her family approaches a new treatment for the flu, and how another family approaches it by sharing “My parents agreed to the treatment. At the same time, a neighbor child was also sick with influenza but his family refused the treatment offered by the doctor. Neither one of us was expected to live through the night; he didn′t.” Betti’s experience is just one example of the consequences of not working together to stop the pandemic. It is important to listen to those who are giving us directions to keep everyone safe. I believe that there is a good and a bad in this world. I also believe that people who do good during this time will be rewarded and come out healthy, and that people who act without thinking about other will get their consequence, whatever it might be during this time. A team is only as strong as their weakest link, and as long as people continue to disregard safety directions and not self-isolate to help stop this pandemic, it will remain long from over.
In events where emotion lead our thoughts and decisions, you will see new sides of people and learn things about them that you never knew. No matter what we see and do, it is important to remember that we are not alone, and that strength and discipline will guide us through difficult times. Sometimes I still have a feeling of disbelief wash over me when I am alone with my thoughts, or get a break in the day, and have time to think about how much my life has changed. But this pandemic has shown me we have much more strength to overcome this obstacle than we credit ourselves with.
