Editorial: How Covid became the new ‘My dog ate my homework’

Your life isn’t the only one that’s been turned upside down by the pandemic. Undoubtedly, the past nine months have been troubling and filled with tragedies; all of the numbers make that very evident, and we hear the numbers every single day. However, the United States has become complacent in waiting for the return to “normalcy.” How it is still not apparent to some that the return to “normalcy” will never happen is perplexing and concerning. This idea has formed that all of the progressive aspects of life — work, education, personal relationships, both platonic and romantic — can be paused, put on hold, until this pandemic passes over. Motivation has become a thing of the past, and Covid-19 is the new “my dog ate my homework.”

Excuses

Covid is to blame for everything. As if the unsatisfying aspects of life didn’t exist prior to the pandemic. If we are stressed and choose to put off homework for weeks on end, it’s because of Covid. If we call in for work because we couldn’t drag ourselves out of bed, it’s because of Covid. Yes, life has been difficult, we have been stressed, routines have been thrown off. But life has always been stressful. Did we wallow in the stress and make excuses? No. We got up and got things done because we had no choice. It’s been more than nine months since the pandemic first began, yet we still make excuses for routine disruptions.

Those who have undoubtedly had the greatest disruption have had no choice but to adapt: medical workers. With no time to stop and sit in amazement at the fact that we’re living through a global pandemic, health care workers have made their new normal and have overcome their challenges, because they have no choice. But unlike them, the majority of us spend our days in settings that fuel our laziness and even add to the aura of “defeat” that Covid is, once again, to blame for. 

Then there are the groups that are either persisters or succumbers: those who have lost loved ones. Times of grief can have polar opposite effects on different people. More than 400,000 people have died from Covid. That’s 400,000 families, 400,000 groups of friends. The sad fact is so many people have been put in the grieving position multiple times, while others have yet to experience loss. The world, however, stops for no one. While some people choose to occupy themselves to lessen the pain of grief, others cannot regroup and find themselves wallowing. Regardless of your stance on grieving, the multitude of citizens grieving simultaneously puts a dent in the productiveness of the nation. While it’s understandable that grievers are pausing their work and social lives, it is unfortunately coupled with the voluntary pauses being enjoyed by the thousands of non-grievers who are simply taking a break on life. This puts our society on a downward spiral.

Long-term effects

Believe it or not, using Covid-19 as a scapegoat for personal accountability today will negatively impact you tomorrow, and next year, and even a decade from now. If we’ll blame natural occurrences to get from under our obligations, we’ll blame anything. In the long run, we are only hurting ourselves. Sadly, this domino effect of everyone succumbing to laziness will hurt society as a whole. We will look back on this time and regret the moments we lost, waiting for time to pass. Will our generation go down as the one that gave up on life and caused a period of uneducation, underdevelopment and lack of innovation and new ideas?

School

Students are the future. With the presence of Covid-19, school has become so lenient that in some districts, it’s essentially optional. Even prior to the pandemic when school schedules were structured and familiar to students, there were still those who struggled, those who failed classes. Now, with the lack of structure, school, a place that used to serve as the only stable factor in many students’ lives, has become a free-for-all. High school students are picking and choosing when they feel like attending school, when they feel like completing their work, even when they feel like being mobile that day. The input from students is absurdly unequal. While some get up early every morning and sit through eight hours of classes, others roll over in bed, log on to their virtual lectures and then fall back asleep. Not only is this creating a rift in students across the nation who are in different learning environments and under varying expectations, it’s also visibly divisive within schools that offer their students multiple options. The outcomes, however, are far more fluctuating. Those students who have lost all motivation and have been allowed to give minimal effort will go into college or the work force and be beyond unprepared. Can you blame the student, though? If you place a toddler in a room with a toy and just suggest to the toddler not to play with the toy, the toddler will undoubtedly play with the toy. When you give teenagers the option to work, they don’t see it for what it truly is: the option to become successful in 20 years or to be a struggling employee for the rest of their lives. Teenagers see it as a choice between sleep and stress, and that’s a choice that even adults will get wrong.

The Hope

We don’t have to accept this doomful fate. It is not too late to change the course of history and place a more respectable image on this generation. We have to hold ourselves accountable for the productive aspects of our lives. Furthermore, we have to hold our peers, our family and friends accountable as well. When we don’t want to get up, we have to remind ourselves that we could do it before the pandemic, so why can’t we now? We have to step back and look at our lives, and ask ourselves, “How much has my life truly changed?” Have our lives been altered to the point that when we look back on ourselves years down the road we can justify and accept how we spent our time today? Take the time to communicate with your loved ones, because even if that “normality” that we are so desperately longing for does come back to some extent, we will still not get back the time we’ve lost. Instead of letting the pandemic control you, use it as a way to prove to yourself that even when you have the option to be idle, you choose not to. These are the lessons you pass on to your children. Imagine how you’ll feel trying to preach persistence and determination to your own children knowing you didn’t exercise it yourself when you had the choice. Set goals. Take time to think. Be involved. Remember the words of Randy Pausch, “It’s not about the cards you’re dealt, but how you play the hand.”