Sometime during the next year or maybe the next decade, someone may well ask you, “How did you live through the coronavirus pandemic and the post-pandemic?” The question may be from a neighbor down the street, or a grandchild asking for a writing project at school. How will you answer the question?
The events of the past year and a half have created totally unique experiences in the lives of generations of people. As life goes on, people will want to know how we lived isolated lives and experienced the deaths of others, over 600,000 now, and how we responded to the post-pandemic. Our collective events are of historic importance.
I read an interesting story in The Washington Post about a week ago that moved me to think of these issues. The story quoted a professor at the University of Virginia as saying, “Covid threatens our self-image, the ability to tell a good story about ourselves. Some want to construct covid as a shared trauma, others don’t. A lot of people may be feeling ‘my life was torn apart, my family was destroyed and yet all people want to do is to go to Cancun again.’ ” How would that answer look in your grandchild’s report?
People most adversely impacted by covid would most likely not ask the public to forego celebrating the effectiveness of vaccines and the successful reopening of our country. Still, I suspect they would like a bit more recognition that many lives have been changed forever by this virus. Deaths of spouses, of parents, and close friends have upset millions of people’s lives psychologically, physically, and financially in ways not yet fully understood. Children have been impacted psychologically through losses requiring on-going treatment.
Awareness of this is important. Some advocacy groups are calling for a national Covid Memorial Day along with other efforts such as victim compensation programs and public acknowledgment of government mistakes in handling the pandemic response.
I’m not sure what should be done, but I do know that remembering loved ones, searching for meaning in one’s life and being open to receiving on-going support are vital in reconciling losses in our lives. I would definitely support public ways of responding which acknowledge these objectives.
So, back to the question: How did you live through the pandemic? How will you respond to post-pandemic efforts to establish the “new normal?” Perhaps you might consider the following questions as you shape your response:
- How did you care for your mind, body, and spirit?
- Did you support someone (physically, emotionally, financially)?
- What traditional or streaming media (books, television, websites, music) did you read, watch, or listen to?
- For whom did you pray and mourn?
- What have you learned?
I wish you peace and hope this exercise might bring you insight!
At Peace 