Dear Younger Me /or/ Life in the Time of Covid-19 (version1.0)

Another long abandonment comes to a close.

Despite the silence, the space still exists here, just waiting to be filled up with all the words.

To that end, enjoy this little offering "in two parts"...the first: written by my longtime-editor/cause-of-caffeine-dependency/firstborn son, as his final assignment for the school-year.  The second to follow in another post: my first attempt at filling a page in months.
~~~

Dear Younger Me,

    

    No, not the song title. ‘Tis I, your future self! *Pen flourish*  Worry not, I’ve no intention of altering the timeline. I’m just here to prepare you a bit, for what’s to come.

    By now, you’re probably aware of that somewhat mysterious virus in Asia, and are mildly concerned about it, though thankful that you are safe at home on American soil. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean quite what you think. In fact, quick tangent here: you might want to stock up on some at-home basics right about now, such as toilet paper and sanitizer. The virus, COVID-19, will eventually go on a world-tour, spreading its pestilence far and wide. The first real casualty here in the United States will be the existing public health system, as hospitals scramble to provide care for a massive uptick in patients. Worldwide demand on the necessary hospital equipment will be shockingly higher than the supply, resulting in many countries instituting lockdowns and quarantines in an effort to slow the spread. 

    Is your anxiety beginning to peak, yet?  Worry not!  I’m here to tell you that this season of your life will be the one in which you rise to the occasion! You’ll suddenly find yourself up ‘til all hours, printing and packaging PPE to donate to all the front-line workers and first-responders, because the official supplies keep getting seized by the government for their private stash. While the general public will be doing its best to “flatten the curve” by engaging in something you’ll come to know as Social-Distancing, the Head Cheeto in Charge ©️ Nightstrike’s Customs will be holding hospital supplies hostage. You, though, and other socially-minded young people will step up and find ways to produce the very items hospitals need most. Ingenuity and creativity, as well as 3-D printers will win the day! Speaking of, quick tangent alert again: maybe stock up on filament now?!? You do not want to see the shipping costs I am dealing with, young engineer!

    Speaking of rising to the occasion: You’ll have to learn how to juggle prototyping, PPE-delivery, a mysterious time-depleter known only as “Distance Learning,” and helping out with your new baby brother Henri. Good luck! You’re going to need it! Good thing you’ve always been a pursuer of higher knowledge, buddy. By the time we meet, you’ll have earned you professorship!

    You, my friend, will end up looking back on the days you were trapped in the school building, and realize that the old adage is true: you never know how good it is until it’s gone.  Back then,you were at least learning something new every day. Let’s just say “Busy Work” will be the new curriculum. Teachers will scramble to find ways to keep students engaged, without the benefit of in-person learning. It won’t work out well. Your schoolwork will continue, and Watchung Hills will be that one school that does not accommodate those who lack in some area, be it a quiet space to work, or simply a lack of a computer to use. But you will make it through, and you will be able to relax, at least a little.

    Some three months in or so, people will think that everything’s going back to normal, but you know that won’t be the case. Society at large will be “tired” of having had to adjust their typical lifestyles and the first stirrings of unrest will be explosive. Racism will have a major influx the likes of which you’ll have only read about in History books. You’ll see playing out in real-time, the concept of survival of the fittest as various bigot groups forgo safety precautions to willfully spread their hate.

    Friends will be made, friends will be lost, and the effects of, well . . . 2020, in general, will continue, as tensions rise, and you start to fear that you’ll be silenced by the new policies put in place. Brutality and violence will increase exponentially, and, at the time I write this, it may even end up reaching Somerset County. But things will change. Maybe not for a while, but hopefully for the better.

    Don’t stress over your mistakes, but recognize that you now can do better.

    

    Don’t worry about things possibly getting worse.

    It’s out of your control!!!

    What IS in your control, is your life. Make the best of it, and don’t worry about the negative in the world, or you’ll find yourself worrying for the rest of your life. 

                            Stay safe, and healthy,
                                J. W.

    P.S. Don’t worry about the cat, either! She’ll eventually come around to liking Henri.

    P.P.S. Maybe ask your mother if you can take a turn on the stock market and dump some extra change into a little thing called Zoom.