Upon reading George Saunders' letter to his students amongst the COVID-19 pandemic, I and the rest of my English class were asked, as students during this time, to draft a response. The letter I am responding to can be found here:
Saunders suggests that what will make future children believe in the pandemic and our current uncertain times, will be the records of our own experiences and thoughts that we must keep.
Anyone can pick up a pencil and write something down, meaning that anyone could keep the records of the pandemic. Thus, what will make future children believe in such an event having actually happened is the feeling behind the records, the fear, the uncertainty, the astounding madness that follows us to and fro. We look around and we see the masses weaving through, wearing masks, gloves (though I particularly urge you to not, as you are spreading more than you think you would), the P.P.E. which is meant to keep us save as long as both you and your neighbor wear them in each other’s presence. People are afraid, people are dying, and there are still those ignorant souls that believe it is all a scam, that there is nothing to fear and would rather die than have their right to their own body be stripped of them (unfortunately if it is my body, and not my choice, neither is it yours).
The fact remains that we are all witnessing this, and it is up to us to write this down, not strictly the facts. That would be dreadfully boring, and no one wants to read that. How did you feel as you waded the murky waters of the unknown? Do you believe that what lies ahead of us will be what we had grown up to understand as normal? Each person can only decide for themselves.
As for me, I cannot know. I see the opportunity for the world to resume normal operation, but I have not even the faintest clue whether or not we can force ourselves to survive long enough in the current condition without worsening it, though, our generation is young, and we have many long years ahead of us. This will not be the only calamity to rock the boat of life. Future children will read on, finding that many of us were able to grip the sides of the boat, to hold on, some fell overboard, kicking and screaming but refused to wear a life-jacket, while a handful of knowing others wore theirs and were able to float.
The future generations will be able to learn from what we went through, but it is impossible to say whether they will believe in it. That is something that ultimately only they can choose to do.
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