Even though the pandemic started off rough, things gradually got better. To be honest I thought that the pandemic was going to last longer. To this day 2.32 million people have gotten sick from this tragic event. Now there are vaccines and treatments in place for the virus symptoms. Everything right now is starting to get back to normal. People are roaming the street again. Business and schools are opening back up. We still have to wear masks but the world is starting to look like its old self. Although things were getting better, bad things started to evolve. Asians are getting blamed for the spread of the virus. They are being harassed and attacked because rumors spread that it’s true. There are more than “9000” incidents that have been reported of people being “Anti-Asian.” Since the coronavirus was first started in China, families of Asian and Pacific Islander descent have been treated as “scapegoats” just because of their race. Things were starting to get so bad that there were starting campaigns, bystander training sessions, and public rallies. Even the president got involved. President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act. Incidents like this, including the pandemic, are what really bring people together. Families that haven’t spoken to each other, have now got the urge to speak. There are multiple lessons that have been learned in this pandemic. One thing that I learned is that we all depend on each other. We’re all in this together, whether we like it or not, and our success or failure is dependent on everyone doing their part. I hope we never forget how much we rely on supermarket cashiers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers, public-sector workers, teachers, and one another. We all suffer if one component of the system fails. It is critical that we all work together for the greater good. Also to do what you want to do now. You never know how long you will have to do what you want. If you want to do something don’t wait.

Things got worse in the month of March. Life as we knew it took a gigantic turn. It was like we were living a different life compared to the one we had. Even though the world was turning upside down I never took the pandemic seriously. Until my mom stacked up on groceries. When I saw how much groceries she bought, I knew this was something serious. She also started buying multiple masks, hand sanitizers, and toilet paper. When she did that I knew this was real. Following this, things in school started to get serious. Everything started going downhill. It went from missing a week, to a month, to the whole year of no in-person schooling. We used a website called zoom to have class. It was never the same feeling of being in class in front of the teacher. One of the worst things about online classes is the way they run them. Cameras had to be on 24/7 and learning was way harder to understand. Teachers did less teaching and more lecturing which caused frustration in many ways. In addition, the school always gave false hope. They tell us that we’re going back to school in a few weeks but when that time comes they extend the date. The worst part about being quarantined is missing practice and playing in games. Baseball was the main part of my life in high school. My team and I made so many memories together and we never got to finish our good times. My teammates were some of the best friends that you could have. We shared so many laughs and story’s, but all that was all crushed by this pandemic. Although we all kept in contact with each other, it was never the same as seeing them on the field. Not only that, I lost some of my family to this pandemic. I have never been really close with my family, but we never forget to check up on each other. Seeing that I lost 2 of my family members to the coronavirus, really put me in a depression. This was one of the worst experiences in my life. The only way that I could cope with this continuous hardship is to play basketball and play video games. I mean there wasn’t a lot that I could do. Everything was closed and I couldn’t be around people like I was before. Being at home all day forced me to catch up on all the tv shows that I never thought I would watch. I might have watched almost every Netflix series and movie. This pandemic gave so much free time that it was too much.

The last thing I remember before worrying about the pandemic event is my last baseball game. This last game was the most important game of the year. It was the game that would qualify us to be in the playoffs. Which caused everyone to panic. Panic to the point where everything started to go wrong. People were leaving their equipment at the school, and people were throwing up in the back of the bus. When we got to the game we started off winning but things went downhill as the game progressed.  That loss caused us to lose all hope in ourselves. We had worked so hard to get where we were now, just to lose before the biggest moments of our lives. Everyone on the field that day went through an emotional breakdown. Looking around, I saw tears and snot coming down from my teammates. My coach threw down his hat and clipboard forcefully with anger. It’s like I could have seen the smoke fuming from his ears like it was a cartoon. I looked at the other dugout, heard laughter, and saw smiles across their faces. Seeing that made me so angry and frustrated. Knowing that everything rode on that game, and we were not able to pull through, was the worst feeling. Since I was the only one on my team that was not on an emotional roller coaster, I knew I had to say something. “Aye, Aye I do not understand what y’all crying for. What is that going to do for us? We did not work this hard to give up. Obstacles are going to come whether you want them to or not, it all depends on how we deal with them. On this team we do not give up, we are going overcome this setback and work even harder,” I said passionately. “What we are going to do!!,” I yelled. “WORK HARDER,” they screamed back. I looked around to see if everyone was ok and all eyes were on me. “Get up! All hands in!” Everyone got up slowly. “On my count, hard work, 1 2 3.” “HARD WORK,” screamed my teammates. I looked at my coach and I could see the smoke from his ears fade away. He gave me a nod and looked away. I packed my things up and headed to the car that my whole family was sitting in. The whole ride was quiet. I roll down the window just to break the silence. I stare up into the blue cloudy sky and thought “Next year will be the best baseball season the school has ever seen.” I packed my things up and headed to the car that my whole family was sitting in. The whole ride was quiet. I roll down the window just to break the silence. I go on my phone to go to Instagram and the first thing I see is the Corona Virus is spreading. My teachers and friends always told me that it was going to spread and it was going to get bad, but I never really listened. Schools were closing and some of the businesses that I go to were closing down.