Hey, welcome back to Coronavirus 2020. So eLearning started yesterday, right? And I'm finding that it's actually not so bad. I mean yeah, my math teacher found out that he could assign us the entire math section of the SAT, but aside from that, not all that bad. I have the entire day to do like, three subjects worth of work, and since there's like nothing else to do, I get it done pretty quick.
So what's interesting is that my history teacher assigned us a sort of diary-type thing. Like this is a "historical time period" and whatnot, right? So he told us to document what it's like living through it. And the funny part is, I was actually thinking of doing exactly that a few days ago, and here we are. Second blog post, yeah!
I was actually reading this book a couple days ago about epidemics, no joke. I didn't even choose it because of COVID, ironically enough. But it was talking about how the people who found out the cause of the epidemic were the ones that took really detailed notes and everything. Like the ones that considered every possible angle and didn't rule anything out until they proved it.
And I feel like in today's world, there's not nearly enough of that. There's so much misinformation that it's really hard to figure out who to believe and who to disregard. Part of that is, I think, political biases, considering how polarized this world is. On one side, there're the Dems, talking about how the current administration isn't doing nearly enough and this is BAD and that is WRONG and all, and then there're the Republicans, being like Coronavirus is a HOAX and all.
In that kind of polarization, where we're ignoring both science and reason, it's hard to not feel kinda hopeless. Like with the coronavirus too, it feels kind of like the world is ending, and I'm trying to say it's not that big a deal, it's just a bad cold, but that's hard. It's hard to stay optimistic when everyone around you is panicking, when your entire sense of normalcy is just gone.
I mean yeah, it's nice to have some free time, it's nice to finally have time for all the things I've been putting off, but, well, I don't know. The very act of being at home when I'm supposed to be in school feels so wrong, and that's scary. I don't know what exactly's happening, and I don't know what's going to happen. Reading the news helps me feel like I have some control, but at the same time, it's kind of hopeless.
I went on a walk today. Just on my street, and the sun was setting but not quite set. I was listening to The Daily, a podcast by the Times, linked here. And as I was listening, as I was looking at the way the sun shone through the trees, I felt like there was some beauty in the world. There were people who were good and places that were beautiful and made you feel alive for the first time in a while. There's hope for us yet.