Enlight21

Author: Kylee Kim | Category: Unkown category | Date: 04-01-2020

If you were to ask me around four months ago if I thought I would be out of school because of the Coronavirus, I would have said that the idea was ridiculous. I was well aware that the virus existed, but only joked that it was something unreachable. I thought I would never be affected. I was absolutely wrong. Since then, school has been canceled, the rest of the spring sports season has been canceled, and my musical, church, and extracurriculars have all been canceled. Weeks ago, the idea of a lockdown would have interested me. Less stress, more downtime for myself; however, now I live worrying if I or someone I know could suffer the same way thousands across the globe have from this pandemic. 
    I am one of the lucky ones. I have a very strong immune system, rarely get sick, and have a very healthy family. Others across the world are either much older than me or have underlying health conditions, putting them at a higher risk than most. Once I heard the news of multiple cases being found only an hour away from me, I began getting anxious. Only my classmates still considered it a joke. My mother is in the healthcare field, so she was constantly telling me to wash my hands often, but I felt it was all unnecessary. Now, as America becomes the country with the most identified cases, my worries have become a reality. Even as rumors circulated throughout the school, I was most definitely unprepared for school to be canceled. It was only a matter of time, considering that community colleges had closed down, as well as all the nearby universities. Another thing I wasn’t prepared for was the cancellation of all my extracurriculars. That is when I knew that this was becoming a huge deal. 
    With school being canceled, I already thought I was going to have too much free time. But as every single one of my extracurriculars called in to say, “We regret to inform you…” my energy was slowly lost. I would have nothing to do and things I had been looking forward to for months were being postponed. I was looking forward to being in a leadership position for San Mateo High School’s spring play. I lost my chance and opportunity to learn and teach for this season. I no longer go into church every Sunday and see my friends. My normal routine has been thrown out the window. I am a very structured person, and I have to plan out every part of my day. I had a plan and intended to stick to it for the rest of the year, but unfortunately, that plan didn’t work out because of the sudden increase in cases of the virus. 
I am also extremely disappointed for my friends who are currently seniors. They have to pray that their senior activities like Prom and graduation won't be canceled. Those are the two things they have been looking forward to for their entire senior year, as a reward for themselves, but now that might be taken from them too. I am thankful to be a sophomore during this time. But that doesn’t make the situation better for seniors throughout the district. 
As San Mateo County called a shelter in place, I could feel the same energy from my dystopian novels coming to life before my very eyes. It sounded like a perfect story: the entire world was forced to shut down because of a virus that couldn’t be stopped. As of right now, I haven’t been past my block for 15 days. This has given me a whole new perspective. I am a social being, I haven’t seen my friends except through a screen for the past two weeks, going on three. If I’m being affected socially and mentally this way, I can’t imagine what it’s like for people who have no access to technology, who don’t have anyone to live with. I have my brother and family to keep me entertained, but what about people living alone? I try not to complain about my situation because there are so many people that have it worse than me. Being sheltered in place and healthy is better than having a family member or me suffering from this virus. 
 

About: Kylee Kim