What The COVID-19 Pandemic Has Taught Me About Humanity

Coronavirus was something we all saw in the distance in the beginning months of 2020 and has now made its presence loud and clear in our daily lives.

At first, in my opinion, it seemed like we all had the collective responsibility and we all were determined to stomp this out together while protecting our most vulnerable. I felt a sense of community I had never personally felt on that level.

Then, it came to which jobs and businesses would be "essential" and which wouldn't be, forcing some to shut down.

We learned here which business owners and major corporations truly cared for their employees. We learned other businesses would stop at nothing to do their part in our communities.

Breweries kept their staff going, switching to producing hand sanitizer, restaurants began doing takeout, offering special deals for those on "the front lines."

I learned people generally just want to help and want to have their own part in whatever "helping" is to them.

Whether helping was volunteering at local shelters, helping deliver food and supplies to those who can't go out for them themselves or even things as simple as hosting online yoga, cooking, or anything else that keeps people entertained and learning a new skill.

Despite so many people just trying to keep things light-hearted and positive in the face of a pretty scary situation, I have also learned there are a lot of people out there who just refuse to see any kind of bright side.

This is not to say this stands for everyone but while a lot of the things people have been doing in all of this has "restored faith in humanity" other times it makes me wonder where the hell the idea of "humanity" even went for some people.

All in all, I have mostly learned there is no "right" or "wrong" way to handle a pandemic with a virus that has never been heard of or studied until now and it is a situation many of us have never experienced anything like in our lifetimes.

I try to keep an open mind to everyone's thoughts and opinions on what is happening but my mom always taught me, "it's not always WHAT you say, but HOW you say it."

So wear a mask, or don't wear a mask. Believe the numbers coming out about the virus, or don't believe them. The ability to form our own opinions and question things are part of our freedoms as Americans but just remember everyone has that right and they are human beings.

We are all human beings just trying to get through this and at this point, I guess I'm begging to just try to take it easy on each other because (and maybe I'm alone here) seeing so much name-calling, hate and animosity over simple things is pretty disheartening and it's exhausting.

This all has especially taught me that people are creative, they are smart, they are passionate and we all sure as hell can agree we are ready for this to be over.