A Moment in History – Or the Beginning of a New Way of Life?

I wonder if our kids are living through a moment in history, or the beginning of a whole new way of life?

Remember after the September 11^th attacks, we almost immediately knew things would never be the same?

Terrorism became an everyday term; we’d never again be able to walk off an airplane and into the arms of our loved ones; many of us now look for the closest exit when we enter a restaurant or store.

Is the same going to be true for COVID-19?

Is wearing a mask going to become a standard operating procedure? Will our children ever learn to shake hands? Will standing six feet apart be the social norm?

Already I see my kids getting used to the way things are now. It’s a good thing, I guess. Just sad. I mean, the first thing my kids do when they get out of the car is reach for their favorite mask. I never thought I’d see my kids having to wear face masks wherever they go. Even at the beginning of all this COVID-19 madness when we were seeing news reports from China, and everyone there was wearing masks, I thought how unbelievable it was.

Now it’s reality.

But, is it forever?

Is this just a blip in history. A significant blip, but something we’ll look back on in 10 years and say, “remember 2020? That whole coronavirus thing when we were quarantined for months and missed a ton of school?”

Will it be written about in history books… will it be a page or a chapter?

Will my grandkids come to me asking about the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic? I wonder what I’ll tell them. Maybe I’ll tell them how weird it was that everyone was stuck inside their home for months. How strange it felt driving down the road and being the only car out there. Maybe I’ll tell them about e-Learning and how badly I sucked at it. Maybe I’ll talk about how guilty I felt wanting the schools to reopen so I didn’t have to teach their parents anymore.

I often consider asking my kids to journal their thoughts and feelings about COVID-19 and what we’ve been through the past six months. How interesting would it be to look back on what they wrote ten or fifteen years from now?

Tonight, I’m going to ask the kids to take a piece of paper and write down what these past six months have been like for them. Then I’ll seal them in an envelope and save them.

Fingers crossed that this is just a moment in history – and not something that will change our way of life forever.