Apr 28, 20202 min read

Keep on Keepin’ On

By Shanaya Daughtrey:

Collectively, I think we can all agree that we have been edged out of the realm of normalcy. We are not able to go on with "business as usual,” and our economy and the people within it are suffering. It has not been easy adjusting to a life of quarantine; stuck at home knowing that if we congregate with others outside the walls of our home that we risk putting ourselves and others in danger. The fear of contracting COVID-19 looms in our minds constantly, because everyday we are presented with new facts, new rising case numbers, and a surge in death tolls. Our unemployment rate has soared to an unimaginable record of 6.65 million, with families worried about how they are going to make ends meet.

Our lives have been eclipsed by this pandemic, and I know many are wondering, "How, as a country, do we recover from something like this?"

Health workers in NSW during the Spanish Influenza epidemic - Image: NSW State Archives and Records on VisualHunt

As a student of history, I have come to understand that our country goes through cycles. From the 1918 influenza pandemic where 500 million people—one-third of the world’s population—became infected with the virus. The number of deaths globally was estimated to be at least 50 million, with about 675,000 occurring in the United States. We also made it through World War II—a time in our country where we survived the fascist reign of Adolf Hitler.

This alone should tell you that we are a resilient people in a resilient nation, and although we may stumble, we will not fall.

Now is the time to reflect introspectively and determine who you are and how you can better yourself and the world around you.

Even in the 1929 Great Depression—one of the worst economic downturns in our nation’s history—not everyone suffered. Many used their creative and innovative thinking to create opportunities to rise above their adversities.

So what are you doing in this time of uncertainty to reinvent yourself? Are you feeling slothful and helpless, lingering on the current situation that is this quarantine? Or are you trying to figure out ways to come out on top and hustling when this quarantine is over?