By Kenai, 19, Tampa, Florida
This is such a strange time for all of us, a truly unprecedented situation. Across the board people are struggling, whether you are in the workforce, studying in college, or even the young kids just starting out with school. This has put a tremendous amount of weight on our shoulders, but each day goes by, and we continue to persist, and we continue to move forward.
Currently, I am finishing up my freshmen year of college, and I could have never guessed things would have turned out like this. Our lives have been tossed and turned, and many of us college students have been forced to change plans and adapt to our new circumstances, which has been bad, but shown the unlimited flexibility our generation has.
Lately I have been studying and spending time with my immediate family and trying to keep outside travel to a minimum. I have been trying to stay occupied, and I am very fortunate that being bored is my only ailment in these times. Picking up old and new hobbies is always something I love to do, so I have started experimenting with cooking, reading more, and researching science topic outside of the pandemic.
Looking to the future, when all of this is over, I know things will not go back to usual any time soon. It sucks to think about all the fun memories of sporting events, concerts, and just carefree living will now all be altered, and there will always be a sense of worry surrounding big groups of people. Times will be strange and difficult, but I know the kids in Gen Z will adapt and get closer to the world we used to live in.
Legislation wise, I think our generation will try to uphold humane and clean work environments as well as putting a greater stress on ecofriendly activities. One positive thing to come out of this whole situation, is the decreased load on our environment. Every day we have been seeing benefits to our ecosystems and earth, and its nice to see something uplifting in these troubling times.
I remember just days before our departure from college, my psychology professor was trying to explain the concept of a “flashbulb” memory, an event that's so significant in people’s lives that the collection of society can usually draw on it with great detail. He struggled to find something that we could really relate to, because we were all from different areas and different backgrounds, and a lot of major events had happened during our childhoods, and not so much our adolescence. And just a few weeks later we find ourselves in this pandemic, something that will be imprinted in us forever.