Under the Shadow of the Pandemic
Under the shadow of the pandemic, everything has become distant: everyone wears a mask, and when people meet they cannot shake hands, cannot laugh and chat together, cannot get together with old friends, cannot travel abroad — even the schools have fallen quiet. Online classes are used for teaching, and the students are far away. Each time I see their faces one by one on the computer screen, gazing at the camera from somewhere out of reach, with some even switching the camera off so that no expression can be made out, it feels as though I am talking to thin air, and it really leaves an unpleasant feeling in my heart.
Looking back, in the days before COVID-19 we could go back to work together, eat together and go outside for a change of scene; when a relative or friend fell ill, we could visit them — it all seemed a matter of course. After this pandemic, it turns out that nothing is a matter of course; sayings such as “live in the moment” and “cherish what you have” are things I now feel deeply.
It is often said that we should plan for the future, but this pandemic has made me understand that the very next second is already our future.
Not a minute or a second is something we are guaranteed to have; all we can do is treasure it well, live well, work hard for the people we love, care well for the older people around us, and let love seep into every corner — and I long all the more for the pandemic to leave us soon.