SIMSBURY TODAY
COVID-19 in the eyes of a 9-year-old By Shayaan Khan Special to Today Magazine
A 4th-grader at Central School, Shayaan Khan lives in Simsbury with his parents, Sana Syed and Anwar Khan EVERYONE HEARS ABOUT how COVID-19 lockdown feels for adults and firsthand workers, but not a lot of people know how it feels for an elementary school-goer. Adults always have an answer. But this is big and important. When I ask my parents when this will end, they don’t have an answer because they don’t know. Every day, I hear about all the deaths. Adults are usually calm and resourceful, but what scares me the most is that adults are scared about COVID-19. Every time I close my eyes there is a battle in my mind. I try to tell my head that everything is going to be alright, but my mind says it may not be alright. I think, this started so quickly and it feels like it will never end. The rates of the cases just keep increasing and increasing. When I am doing my favorite things it is always in the back of my mind. I have never seen the whole world crumbling in front of my eyes. All that we have built is going into hibernation. It makes me sad, confused and filled with awe. We think that we are really powerful, but a microscopic germ is harming us so much.
“We are not as strong as we thought we were.”
We are not as strong as we thought we were. There is a pause sign in our life. I love to socialize, and so do a lot of kids. I sometimes have Google Meets but that is not the same as talking in person. I don’t play video games, but my friends do. I think at this time it is more important to bond with family than resort to the virtual land of video games. Every day I do something with my family: sports, just talking or going out on scenic drives. On our drives, we’ve seen ducks, a fox, a bear in a trash can, and numerous American robins, our state bird. Sometimes, when the weather is nice, I stargaze in a nearby field. For a time, I am enjoying it. I can zone out and go somewhere else in the world where this isn’t a threat. COVID-19 is scary and depressing but it teaches us a lot. It teaches me to be patient and wait for the hibernation to end. Everyone’s life has changed because of COVID-19, but especially for kids. I think there should be a makeup for all this time we have lost. Distance learning is not the same as the seven hours we spend at school enriching our young minds. All this time is never going to come back. Dr. Fauci says COVID-19 might come back in the fall. When will this end? The world is troubled, the world is in grief, the world is in anguish, but to survive we must unite and fight. +
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JUNE 2020 – www.TodayPublishing.net – TODAY MAGAZINE