OPINION: Just trudging through
By David Gomez Jr.
Editor-in-chief
Published Friday, Feb. 12, 2021
2021 is in full effect. Now that it is February, I must admit I am already losing my grip this semester.
No more Trump. Here comes Biden. The first female vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris. Bernie Sanders chilling on a chair in chilly weather. Redditors start a revolution through stocks rather than storming the Capitol.
Anyway, that is happening over there, and we are here. In six weeks, we will have had a year surviving a pandemic. Individualism is on high as people wander the sidewalks and highways without a care. Some take it so far as to not wear a mask. Collectivism, I believe, is not welcome in the United States. At least in Laredo, I am sure.
The date was March 16, 2020. I was getting ready to buy myself a ticket for a screening of “The Departed” for St. Patrick’s Day–the following day–and that was when it happened. The country went into lockdown. Cinemas, restaurants, bars and unessential businesses were no longer operating within a matter of minutes.
A year later, and we are still dealing with this mess. We learned to live with the mistakes of others. We found that actions do indeed have consequences. We learned to continue moving forward–even if it feels as if we are shackled from our ankles to cinder blocks, we continue to move forward. What else can we do?
I certainly question my decisions, daily, through this pandemic. If I go to the grocery store, will I get the virus? If I forget to sanitize my hands as soon as I have touched a door in public, will I get it? Is this takeout prepared with care by an employee that does not want to lose their job in these times?
Not even two weeks into the semester and I am losing my grip, but it is slowly in the process adjusting–still.
I want to add that I like to write. I feel as if I am supposed to write. There are days when words flow naturally like a spring, but then, there are days where I write like this. I type away at my keyboard. Every stroke feels as if I am applying five pounds of pressure.
Yet, I like to think that my writing saved me from nights out with coworkers who invited me over for a drink. I still feel gratitude. Grateful for a passion that lets me do what I like to do indoors. Away from others who could be carrying this destructive respiratory disease.
It is so heartbreaking to hear of close friends losing family members due to the carelessness of one person in their household–similar to a sporadic domino effect. If that makes sense? Some people get it and live while others aren’t so lucky.
What else can we do but keep moving forward? Especially when it gets its darkest? We’ll just have to see. Godspeed.
