Life Under Pandemic Reflections of a 4th Grader
Ark (2014)
by GENEVIEVE BROWN
Dean Bowen
“Mom, my computer is dead.” “Can you help me with Math?” “When is my Zoom meeting?” “My computer is dead!” “Can I go to Smoothie King?”
J
ust a typical crazy morning since this lockdown began. I have been in quarantine for almost eight weeks now and have had to do school on the computer. My brothers are in the same boat. It is, however, a great chance to spend time with my family, and doing school from home makes things less busy. Staying at home gives you time to do all the things you could never do on a regular day. However, it can be frustrating because being stuck at home leads to more fights and getting on everyone's nerves.
jacob's well
66
Everyone is experiencing something hard during this pandemic. I miss going to school five days a week and I miss going to church every Sunday. Before the coronavirus, there was hardly a day when I stayed home with lots of spare time. We all miss the things we don't have now, like friends, teachers, and neighbors. The hardest thing for me during the coronavirus is trying not to fight all the time with my brothers while being crammed in a small house. Even though things are hard, confusing, and sometimes boring, there is always some good in things that are bad. Just like how God gave us something good from the Cross. You don't always really know how important the things you have are, like your health, school, and church, until they are taken from you. After this, I will appreciate these things more because I know that I have it better than some people that are sick in a hospital or have to be in a strict quarantine. At the same time, there are fun things about being quarantined. Like playing outside more and having a lot more family time. I really like family game nights, movie nights, and the new experience of online school and online church. Things will be different when this is over. Everyone knows they need to be more careful about the coronavirus so they don’t spread it. People might be afraid to be in big groups and shake peoples’ hands. When will things be going back to normal? When will stores be opening up again? Looks like Smoothie King won’t be coming back. All this is crazy and not what we expected. But when this started, my teacher said, “Don’t worry, the coronavirus is only in China, South Korea, and all the countries on the other side of the world.” That turned out not to be true, but I guess people have learned from this. I know I have.
GENEVIEVE BROWN is a 4th grader at Central School in Glen Rock, NJ and a parishioner at Holy Apostles Orthodox Church in Saddle Brook, New Jersey. She is the daughter of Fr. Matthew Brown.
