Things will get better, even if we have to make them better ourselves
Eric Boose / Opinion Editor / USD Vista
Nothing was supposed to end like this. This week was supposed to be the beginning of a bittersweet conclusion to things. Fraternities and sororities should be having spring formals around now. Student organizations should be having their farewell celebrations. Athletes should be pushing for a spot in the postseason, and seniors should be winding down their final year at the University of San Diego. Study spaces across campus should be filled with students working long hours to finish final projects and prepare for final exams.
Instead, USD’s campus is empty. There is no postseason for athletes, because the spring season ended in March. Seniors will finish their time at USD in a matter of weeks, but they will have to wait until October to finally walk across the stage. Student organizations can only have their final meeting and say goodbye through a computer screen, and nobody is going to be dancing anywhere other than their own home.
It is okay to feel like we have suffered a loss. We have. Things that we were all looking forward to were taken from us by something beyond the control of a bunch of college students. The end of this semester and this school year has not been normal. That is not going to change in the next two weeks. All we can do now is figure out how to make the best of a bad situation, and look forward to when things get better. Because things will get better.
Ultimately, how we remember this spring and summer is up to us. We have every right to remember the bad — everything that got taken away from us — but is that really the best choice? I, for one, am choosing to remember the way that my friends have all rallied together, even if we are now scattered up and down the West Coast. While we cannot see each other face to face, we have still made time to connect and be together. It is that kind of deliberate effort to be together that we are going to remember, and our friendship is probably stronger than before because of it. Every conversation might feel like a special occasion now, but that is how we make the best out of this mess.
I know that it is hard to keep making the best of a bad situation, especially when there is so much that we still cannot do. I know that it can be hard to hold out hope that all of this will go away anytime soon, and I know how much it would hurt to make plans for months from now only for those plans to be wrecked. But at the same time, knowing how good it will feel when things are back to normal is what will drive us to make things better.
The nation’s desire to get back to normal is obvious, and in some states it has caused governments to rush to lift restrictions. As tempting of an option as that is, it provides only a brief release from quarantine, not a permanent return to normalcy. Getting back to normal is going to take patience. Right now, the best thing we can do is wait, as frustrating as that is. The more of us who follow the rules, who continue to self-isolate, the faster the spread of this virus stops.
If you want to do something more than just wait, call your representatives — local, state, and federal. Urge them to listen to experts so that when our cities and states start to re-open, they are reopening for good.
Things will get better. They will get better faster with your help.