By Matthew Villanueva, features assignment editor
Since being sent home from St. Bonaventure, I have seen posts all over social media about the good things that have happened throughout the world since people have started social distancing.
In Italy, schools of dolphins have begun to swim closer to shore and fish are visible in the famous canals of Venice due to the lack of boats congesting the area. Smog in China and the Philippines are at an all-time low due to lack of factories spewing out carbon dioxide. Pollution all over the world is nearly at a millennium low. People are acting kinder, educators are finally being praised as heroes, health-care workers are receiving well-earned respect and people are starting to take COVID-19 seriously.
Everyone cooped up in their homes are ecstatic to be able to be back in the world again. To be able to hang out with friends, hug our family members and simply sit down for a meal are all things we seemed to take for granted two months ago.
These are all incredible things; the world will benefit after the inevitable national lockdown…for about as long as it lasted. Because, once this period fizzles out, do not expect the world to change too much from what it was before.
Within a month, smog will smother the populated cities in southeast Asia. The Italian sea-life will return from their clean vacation to make room for the vacation of larger brutes. Educators and teachers will continue to be underpaid and undervalued by society and those who shot down the virus as a hoax, will admonish that the steps we took to save lives was overkill.
While this may be a rather cynical stance on humanity, if you think a majority of people are going to change in two months, you are just naïve. Some people are inherently bad beings. People who were kind to others and grateful for their daily interactions will continue to do so. Those on the other side of the spectrum will be amicable for a week or so and slowly return to their abhorrent and selfish ways.
This is evident in the growing racism towards Asian-Americans in this country stemmed by the president’s indication that COVID-19 be referred to as the “Chinese Virus” or “Wuhan Virus.”
This is evident in your local supermarket. Hordes of toiletries and food are missing from shelves due to selfish panic-buying spreading across the country as quickly as the virus. Lower-income mothers are struggling to find diapers, elderly individuals who are scared to go out in peak hours labor to find necessities and hospitals are running out of protective masks to protect their workers.
This was evident in the sunny beaches of Florida in the past few weeks. Thousands of college students who were sent home to socially distance decided to take dirt-cheap flights and flock down to the Sunshine State to party. CBS interviewed some of those nitwits and has since become quite viral. One of the idiots spews out, “If I get corona, I get corona. At the end of the day, I’m not going to let it stop me from partying… We’re just out here having a good time. Whatever happens, happens.”
Please, take this virus seriously, practice social distancing, be safe and be kind.
villanjv18@bonaventure.edu
