A Precedented Solution for an Unprecedented Time
I finished packing my weekender with only the essentials for my red-eye flight out of Saint Louis to Miami, where I would be spending the beginning of my spring break before going home to Chicago. My bag was rather small, but I would only be gone for a week before classes started back up again. After weeks of unrelenting stress from classes and studying, a break was long overdue, and, as any college student in America can tell you, Miami was the perfect place to escape.
Rushing to the airport, I desperately prayed for a short security line. As I hurriedly punched in my confirmation number to retrieve my boarding pass from the kiosk, my eyes couldn’t help but wander over to the security line to assess how many minutes it would take for me to get to my gate and how fast I needed to run to compensate for my delayed arrival. To my surprise, there were only a handful of people in line. My prayers had been answered. As I boarded the plane, hushed murmurs of the news were a popular topic of conversation amongst passengers. “Did you hear a woman in St. Louis over by Clayton got it? She rode the Amtrak in from Chicago and then tested positive.” “Oh, I’m not worried. The flu kills more people. Plus, the media over-hypes everything!” “I heard it’s really only a problem if you’re over 65.” The flight seemed endless, but soon enough, the seat belt sign came on, and we started our descent. Spring break had officially begun.
As I spent the next few days in the sun, social media was roaring louder than ever. “Italy has hit its highest record of COVID-19 cases and is on the verge of a lock-down as cases grow exponentially” “Only two states left in America to not have any reported cases. Death toll rising” “Doctors warn Americans to heed caution and learn from Italy before the US succumbs to the same condition” “These are unprecedented times.” My vacation in Miami came to an end, and I once again boarded my flight, ready to go home.
The flight back to Chicago was even eerier than the trip to Miami. This time, passengers didn’t dare engage in conversation with their neighbors. They buried their heads inside scarves and sweaters, and their hands were kept on their person at all times, used only upon landing to grab their bags as passengers scurried off the plane.
That’s when I first heard the news. Harvard had canceled all in-person classes and shifted to online instruction, sending all of their students home for the rest of the school year. “That must be nice.” I thought naively, as I dreaded thinking about returning to St. Louis in just a few days.
But, for the second time that week, my prayers had been answered. I woke up to an email from my university’s chancellor announcing, with a heavy heart, that students must not return to campus and prepare themselves to attend classes as scheduled through Zoom. Having only my weekender with me, I suddenly wasn’t so sure what to make of this news. “Prepare? How does one truly prepare to attend law school…online?” The next couple of days passed with the news of the worsening pandemic coupled with projections of the impending recession. Unemployment skyrocketed to its highest rate since the 2008 financial crisis, with the expectation that it continues to rise. Business owners struggled to pay their rent and maintain their payroll with no customers bringing in revenue. Grocery stores sold out of items by the second, and arriving thirty minutes after the store opened was as good as not having gone at all. Families worked out plans for stepping out of the house to ensure the least amount of exposure possible, and they only sent those who had the highest chance of recovering. Americans started feeling as though they were starring in their very own hit apocalyptic made-for-Netflix film. The word “unprecedented” sounded off across news channels, social media, and in conversation… an unprecedented amount of times.
To ease the transition, the university sent out a series of tips and tricks to help students relieve their stress. People are turning to books and workout plans to take care of their health. Yoga apps are becoming the hot new commodity, as Americans search to make sense of their new normal. When will we be able to leave our homes? Will my loved ones or I be the next to fall ill? When can I see my friends and family? And while the solution to these problems is a vaccine, there are lasting effects that a medical cure cannot solve. For graduating and soon-to-graduate students like myself, the fear of stepping out into the worst job market since the last recession overcame us all-too-fast. Hope, optimism, and peace were stripped, along with any sense of familiarity. These genuinely are “unprecedented times,” and I find myself wondering how “unprecedented” the solution to it must be. But perhaps a better question to ask is, must we create a new solution, or do we need to change our perception?
In my darkest moments, I come back to the same thought…
Das na dushman hari kedi hoi nahi. Jem karshe tem sukh ja thashe.
God is never the enemy of his devotee. Whatever He does will only assure happiness.
Through these words, the devotee regains control in a seemingly uncontrollable situation. This thought guided me when I received my first, second, and third rounds of rejection letters from graduate schools. The same thought that guided me when the most important person in my life unexpectedly passed away. Now, it is the thought that guides me as I stand in the grocery lines avoiding eye contact as if one can contract the virus through a simple gaze. It is the thought that guides me as I log in to Zoom, worried about my decreased productivity. It is the thought that guides me when I think of the struggle to find employment that awaits me even long after the crisis is averted. And it is the thought that guides me as I watch my mom leave for another full day of work, unsure if she will return home as healthy as she goes. Das na dushman hari kedi hoi nahi. Jem karshe tem sukh ja thashe.
So, while COVID-19 may be unprecedented, perhaps the solution is not.
Priyanka Patel, Law School Student
Chicago, Illinois
