In March last year, as I had been studying hard for the Spanish exam which was the next day, my parents received an SMS: “This is to inform you that the Third Language exam stands cancelled.” That was that. I cannot even describe how happy I was. I had dreaded Spanish since I had first started and now, finally, it was over! I am quite sure that I thanked God for bringing Covid-19 into this world. But after five months and a lot of online classes, I now think of how ironic that moment had been.
The truth is that, at that moment, I didn’t realise how my temporary ally could grow to be my most irritating opponent. In March 2020, I didn’t know that online classes were even a thing, let alone the fact that they would become my method of learning for five months. I didn’t think that a nation of a billion and a half people could go on a complete lockdown for more than two months. Alas, as the saying goes, “there’s a first time for everything”.
A few weeks into the lockdown, I started feeling irritated. Two months ago, if anyone had told me I would be getting more than a month off from school, I would have been over the moon. But this lockdown made me realise the actual fun of going to school, and just getting out of the house in general. I don’t think the words exist to describe just how irritated I became over the months which came after that. I dreaded the novel coronavirus. In fact, at that point, I would have preferred catching Covid-19 than staying home for three more months!
What I have said above would make any reader who didn’t know about the pandemic hate it instantly. Yes, it is to be hated. However, as someone who is living through it, I can say that it has taught me something which is impossible to learn otherwise: The value of things. We try to be grateful and thank God for his gifts, however, in reality, it is impossible to learn the true value of something until it is taken away from you. No matter how much gratitude we have and how much we thank God in our prayers, what we are doing is only the next best thing. The pandemic has taught us that.
Right now, we might dread it, but in the future, we will not. The worst part of any activity always happens first. However, it is only the best life lessons that last the test of time. In two years’ time, I will thank God for putting me through this challenge because it has taught me something and made me stronger. It also doesn’t hurt that in 60 years’ time I’ll be able to tell my grandchildren, “Your granddad lived through a pandemic!”
German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” Isn’t that exactly what the pandemic has done? Has it not made us stronger? It is this feeling, that me and all my comrades will emerge through these tough times tougher than ever before, along with the endless love and support of my loved ones, just showing that they are there, which keeps me going.
The writer is a Class IX student.