essay conclusion on covid 19

Writing about COVID-19 in a college admission essay

by: Venkates Swaminathan | Updated: September 14, 2020

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For students applying to college using the CommonApp, there are several different places where students and counselors can address the pandemic’s impact. The different sections have differing goals. You must understand how to use each section for its appropriate use.

The CommonApp COVID-19 question

First, the CommonApp this year has an additional question specifically about COVID-19 :

Community disruptions such as COVID-19 and natural disasters can have deep and long-lasting impacts. If you need it, this space is yours to describe those impacts. Colleges care about the effects on your health and well-being, safety, family circumstances, future plans, and education, including access to reliable technology and quiet study spaces. Please use this space to describe how these events have impacted you.

This question seeks to understand the adversity that students may have had to face due to the pandemic, the move to online education, or the shelter-in-place rules. You don’t have to answer this question if the impact on you wasn’t particularly severe. Some examples of things students should discuss include:

• The student or a family member had COVID-19 or suffered other illnesses due to confinement during the pandemic.
• The candidate had to deal with personal or family issues, such as abusive living situations or other safety concerns
• The student suffered from a lack of internet access and other online learning challenges.
• Students who dealt with problems registering for or taking standardized tests and AP exams.

Jeff Schiffman of the Tulane University admissions office has a blog about this section. He recommends students ask themselves several questions as they go about answering this section:

• Are my experiences different from others’?
• Are there noticeable changes on my transcript?
• Am I aware of my privilege?
• Am I specific? Am I explaining rather than complaining?
• Is this information being included elsewhere on my application?

If you do answer this section, be brief and to-the-point.

Counselor recommendations and school profiles

Second, counselors will, in their counselor forms and school profiles on the CommonApp, address how the school handled the pandemic and how it might have affected students, specifically as it relates to:

• Grading scales and policies
• Graduation requirements
• Instructional methods
• Schedules and course offerings
• Testing requirements
• Your academic calendar
• Other extenuating circumstances

Students don’t have to mention these matters in their application unless something unusual happened.

Writing about COVID-19 in your main essay

Write about your experiences during the pandemic in your main college essay if your experience is personal, relevant, and the most important thing to discuss in your college admission essay. That you had to stay home and study online isn’t sufficient, as millions of other students faced the same situation. But sometimes, it can be appropriate and helpful to write about something related to the pandemic in your essay. For example:

• One student developed a website for a local comic book store. The store might not have survived without the ability for people to order comic books online. The student had a long-standing relationship with the store, and it was an institution that created a community for students who otherwise felt left out.
• One student started a YouTube channel to help other students with academic subjects he was very familiar with and began tutoring others.
• Some students used their extra time that was the result of the stay-at-home orders to take online courses pursuing topics they are genuinely interested in or developing new interests, like a foreign language or music.

Experiences like this can be good topics for the CommonApp essay as long as they reflect something genuinely important about the student. For many students whose lives have been shaped by this pandemic, it can be a critical part of their college application.

Want more? Read 6 ways to improve a college essay , What the &%$! should I write about in my college essay , and Just how important is a college admissions essay? .

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COVID-19 and Chronic Disease: The Impact Now and in the Future

ESSAY — Volume 18 — June 17, 2021

Karen A. Hacker, MD, MPH 1 ; Peter A. Briss, MD, MPH 1 ; Lisa Richardson, MD, MPH 1 ; Janet Wright, MD 1 ; Ruth Petersen, MD, MPH 1 ( View author affiliations )

Suggested citation for this article: Hacker KA, Briss PA, Richardson L, Wright J, Petersen R. COVID-19 and Chronic Disease: The Impact Now and in the Future. Prev Chronic Dis 2021;18:210086. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd18.210086 .

PEER REVIEWED

The Problem of COVID-19 and Chronic Disease

Raise awareness, collaborate on solutions and build trust, address long-term covid-19 sequelae, how will the national center for chronic disease prevention and health promotion contribute, acknowledgments, author information.

Chronic diseases represent 7 of the top 10 causes of death in the United States (1). Six in 10 Americans live with at least 1 chronic condition, such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, or diabetes (2). Chronic diseases are also the leading causes of disability in the US and the leading drivers of the nation’s $3.8 trillion annual health care costs (2,3).

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in enormous personal and societal losses, with more than half a million lives lost (4). COVID-19 is a disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that can result in respiratory distress. In addition to the physical toll, the emotional impact has yet to be fully understood. For those with chronic disease, the impact has been particularly profound (5,6). Heart disease, diabetes, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic kidney disease, and obesity are all conditions that increase the risk for severe illness from COVID-19 (7). Other factors, including smoking and pregnancy, also increase the risk (7). Finally, in addition to COVID-19–related deaths since February 1, 2020, an increase in deaths has been observed among people with dementia, circulatory diseases, and diabetes among other causes (8). This increase could reflect undercounting COVID-19 deaths or indirect effects of the virus, such as underutilization of, or stresses on, the health care system (8).

Some populations, including those with low socioeconomic status and those of certain racial and ethnic groups, including African American, Hispanic, and Native American, have a disproportionate burden of chronic disease, SARS-CoV-2 infection, and COVID-19 diagnosis, hospitalization, and mortality (9). These populations are at higher risk because of exposure to suboptimal social determinants of health (SDoH). SDoH are factors that influence health where people live, work, and play, and can create obstacles that contribute to inequities. Education, type of employment, poor or no access to health care, lack of safe and affordable housing, lack of access to healthy food, structural racism, and other conditions all affect a wide range of health outcomes (10–12). The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing health inequities and laid bare underlying root causes.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had direct and indirect effects on people with chronic disease. In addition to morbidity and mortality, high rates of community spread and various mitigation efforts, including stay-at-home recommendations, have disrupted lives and created social and economic hardships (13). This pandemic has also raised concerns about safely accessing health care (14) and has reduced the ability to prevent or control chronic disease. This essay discusses the impact that these challenges have or could have on people with chronic disease now and in the future. Exploring the impact of COVID-19 should help the public health and health care communities effectively improve health outcomes.

The challenges we face as public health professionals are divided into 3 categories. The first category involves the current effects of COVID-19 on those with, or at risk for, chronic diseases and those at higher risk for severe COVID-19 illness. Inherent in this category is the need for balance between protecting people with chronic diseases from COVID-19 while assuring they can engage in disease prevention, manage their conditions effectively, and safely receive needed health care.

The second category is the postpandemic impact of COVID-19 on the prevention, identification, and management of chronic disease. COVID-19 has resulted in decreases of many types of health care utilization (15), ranging from preventive care to chronic disease management and even emergency care (16). As of June 2020, 4 in 10 adults surveyed reported delaying or avoiding routine or emergent medical care because of the pandemic (14). Cancer screenings, for example, dropped during the pandemic (17). Decreases in screening have resulted in the diagnoses of fewer cancers and precancers (18), and modeling studies have estimated that delayed screening and treatment for breast and colorectal cancer could result in almost 10,000 preventable deaths in the United States (19). We have lost ground in prevention across the chronic disease spectrum and in other areas, including pediatric immunization (20), mental health (21,22), and substance abuse (21,22).

Some challenges with health care utilization may be improving, but improvement has not been consistent across all health care visit types, providers, patients, or communities (15). Questions about the impact of the pandemic on chronic disease include:

What diseases have been missed or allowed to worsen?

What is the status of prevention and disease management efforts?

Have prevention and disease management efforts been affected by concerns such as job loss, loss of insurance, lack of access to healthy food, or loss of places and opportunities to be physically active?

How have effects of the pandemic on health care systems (staff reductions, health practice closures, disrupted services) (23) and public health organizations’ deployment of personnel away from ongoing chronic disease prevention efforts been experienced nationally?

The effects of COVID-19, whether negative or positive, on health care and public health systems will certainly affect those with chronic disease. To fully understand the consequences of the pandemic, we need to assess its overall impact on incidence, management, and outcomes of chronic disease. This is particularly salient in communities where health inequities are already rampant or communities that are remote or underserved. Will our postpandemic response be strong enough to mitigate the exacerbation of inequities that have occurred? Can public health agencies effectively build trust in science and community health care systems where trust might never have been fully established or where it has been lost?

The third category relates to the long-term COVID-19 sequelae, both as a disease entity and from a population perspective. Has COVID-19 created a new group of patients with chronic diseases, neurologic or psychiatric conditions, diabetes, or effects on the heart, lungs, kidneys, or other organs (24)? Has it worsened existing conditions or caused additional chronic disease? And, at the population level, have the incidence and prevalence of chronic diseases increased because of pandemic-related health behaviors or other challenges, such as decreased food and nutrition security?

Given the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines and the coming end of the pandemic, this is an important time to examine the impact of COVID-19. Solutions at all levels are needed to improve health outcomes and lessen health inequities among people with or at risk for chronic disease. Solutions are likely to include increasing awareness about prevention and care during and after the pandemic, building or enhancing cross-organizational and cross-sector partnerships, innovating to address identified gaps, and addressing SDoH to improve health and achieve equity. So, what can be done?

Additional focus is required on several aspects of awareness about the impact of COVID-19. First, public health and health care practitioners need to allay people’s fears and help them safely return to health care. We need to reemphasize chronic disease prevention and care, explain how to safely access care, and convey the host of mitigation efforts made by health care systems, providers, and public health to ensure that environments are safe (eg, mask requirements, social distancing). Emphasis on safety and mitigation applies to both disease prevention (such as encouraging healthy nutrition and physical activity, screening for cancer and other conditions, and getting oral health care) and disease management (eg, educating patients about medications to control hypertension, diabetes, asthma, and other chronic conditions). Efforts must also include helping those with chronic diseases obtain access to and gain confidence in the COVID-19 vaccine. Given current community rates of COVID-19 and the need to reenter care after the height of the pandemic, information can help patients make informed choices about the need for in-person care, communication at a distance, or temporary delays in care that is more discretionary.

To garner support to help affected communities, there is a need to build awareness about how COVID-19 has disproportionately affected particular communities, including the unequal distribution of disease, morbidity, mortality, and resources, such as access to vaccines. Awareness is dependent on access to data at the granular geographic level, including information on the burden of chronic disease and the status of SDoH. Communities need data to effectively address health inequities in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Public health plays a significant role in addressing health behaviors (healthy eating, physical activity, avoiding tobacco and other substance use) and community solutions to address SDoH that impact prevention and control of chronic disease. Collaborations at both the individual and system levels, however, are required for success. Collaborative partners include other government and nongovernmental organizations, health care organizations, insurers, nonprofit organizations, community and faith-based groups, schools, businesses, and others. Coalitions and community groups are critical change agents. They have worked with local health departments and others to identify solutions, bring residents into discussions, and implement action. We can learn from them about how best to build trust and foster the innovation they are leading. Solutions must also include direct discussions with residents in affected communities to understand their priorities and effectively address their concerns. These relationships are particularly salient to address SDoH. These factors have been amplified as a direct consequence of COVID-19 and will require a multisector approach to problem solving.

To achieve this will require building trust in both the health care system and the public health system. The pandemic has taken a toll on an already fragile relationship between communities and public health and health care institutions where trust has been absent or insufficient. To begin to address the trust challenge will require investments in outreach, engagement, and transparency. Conversations need to be bidirectional, long-term, and conducted by people who are trusted, who are respectful, and who can identify with affected populations.

Creative solutions are needed to engage populations and promote resiliency among those who are disproportionately affected by COVID-19. Efforts that need to be further developed and brought to scale include the following:

Leveraging technology to expand the reach of health care and health promotion (eg, telemedicine, virtual program delivery, wearables, mobile device applications).

Providing more services in community settings, as is increasingly modeled in the National Diabetes Prevention Program (25).

Using community health workers to assist in assessing current conditions and connecting to community resources.

Further enhancing approaches to increase access to and convenience of services (eg, increasing access to home screenings, such as cancer screening) or monitoring (eg, home blood pressure monitoring) where appropriate.

Health care approaches, such as telemedicine, have expanded greatly during the pandemic and seem likely to continue expansion over time. As these and related efforts grow, practitioners will need to ensure that existing disparities are not magnified. Care is needed to ensure that those with the highest health needs can access services. For example, are technological solutions easily accessible, available in multiple languages, compatible with readily available hardware options, such as telephones rather than laptops? Are culturally appropriate resources available to help people use and value these technologies? In addition, computer availability and internet access will need to be expanded. Challenges such as unemployment, food insecurity, limited transportation, substance abuse, and social isolation will require a multisector effort uniquely adapted to local contexts. To begin, health equity–focused policy analyses and health impact assessments will help policy makers understand better how proposed SDoH-related action might either exacerbate or mitigate chronic disease inequities. These actions will help us develop a deeper understanding of what individual communities need to mobilize and build resilience for the future. We face serious public health and population health concerns that should be the focus in the near term — particularly as equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines is a consideration in every community across the nation. We clearly have an enormous amount of work to do as we enter recovery from the pandemic, but with recovery comes enormous opportunity.

A challenge related to long-term COVID-19 sequelae is that we do not know yet the extent that COVID-19 exacerbates chronic disease, causes chronic disease, or will be determined a chronic disease unto itself. Those interested in chronic disease prevention and management need to follow the research to understand better the role they will play with this emerging situation. Long-term studies and longitudinal surveillance will help clarify these issues, and there is much research to be done. The duty of the public health community is to help ensure that the most important issues from the perspectives of patients, providers, health care, and public health systems are addressed; that potential solutions are developed and tested; and that eventual solutions are delivered where they are needed most.

As the US enters the next phase of pandemic response, the work of National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is evolving to address health inequities and drive toward health equity with a multipronged approach. This approach includes enhanced access to data at the local level, a focus on SDoH including a shift in the Notice of Funding Opportunity process that emphasizes a health equity lens, and an expansion of partnerships and communications.

Placing data in the hands of communities is critical for local coalitions to determine their burden of chronic disease and COVID-19, their access to resources, and the best policies and practices to implement. Data will be useful for local public health, governments, and health care systems, but can also help human services, planning, and economic development organizations. An initial step is making available data from the PLACES Project (26), which provides data on 27 chronic disease measures at the census tract level, allowing communities to understand their own chronic disease burden. In addition, modules on SDoH are in development to enhance NCCDPHP data surveillance systems. This will increase the ability to overlay chronic disease data and SDoH data at the community level. The need is also a great for core SDoH measures that allow comparisons of related outcomes across communities. NCCDPHP can augment this effort by contributing to and amplifying the SDoH measures identified for Healthy People 2030 (27).

NCCDPHP is focusing on supporting and stimulating SDoH efforts by concentrating on 5 major areas: built environment, social connectedness, food and nutrition security, tobacco policies, and connections to clinical care. For example, SDoH are the foci of recent Notices of Funding Opportunities (available at https://www.grants.gov). NCCDPHP supports multisector partnerships in numerous funding announcements and launched a joint effort with the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials and the National Association of County and City Health Officials to identify best practices in multisector collaboration to address SDoH (28). Evidence will help build a standard for success to support local coalitions in their work. States and local communities are sites of innovation, and promoting lessons learned can help build broader efforts. To address urgent needs and facilitate change, NCCDPHP must link with other sectors outside of public health and health care. The work to evaluate these efforts and determine the most effective strategies to address SDoH, therefore, will be integrated fully into NCCDPHP.

An expansion of the Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) Program (29) and other programs that address health inequities will help to target resources where they are needed most. REACH and a recently released investment in community health workers (30) demonstrate NCCDPHP’s commitment to connecting with populations that are disproportionately affected by chronic disease at the local level. These efforts are aimed at addressing the ramifications of COVID-19 while also amplifying chronic disease prevention efforts. NCCDPHP also intends to enhance the use of a health equity lens, among other approaches, to determine the best use of resources and to help assess outcomes in all programmatic activities.

Finally, communication about the impact of COVID-19 on chronic disease, returning to care, and the extent of health inequities is critical to building trust. Efforts under way include a television and digital media campaign aiming to encourage those with chronic disease to return safely to care (31). In addition to expanding work with partner organizations, both external and internal to government, NCCDPHP will embrace new ways of garnering input from affected communities. Successes and failures experienced by communities during the pandemic will continue to be of the utmost importance to NCCDPHP. In addition, important insights gained from working closely with affected communities will help NCCDPHP continually refine its national chronic disease prevention and control goals and objectives. Activities related to SDoH and health equity, data, and communication will address difficult questions now and into the future. These efforts can only be successful with collaboration and partnerships across multiple sectors.

The impact of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, on people with or at risk for chronic disease cannot be overstated. COVID-19 has impeded chronic disease prevention and disrupted disease management. The problems and solutions outlined here are critically important to help those committed to chronic disease prevention and intervention to identify ways forward.

NCCDPHP is adjusting, preparing, and implementing multiple strategies to address the future. Although the work will be challenging, opportunities abound. NCCDPHP is committed to working with the health care community and a variety of partners at federal, state, and local levels to help address the realities of the post-COVID era.

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. No copyrighted materials were used in the preparation of this essay.

Corresponding Author: Karen A. Hacker, MD, MPH, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, 4770 Buford Highway NE, Atlanta, GA 30341. Telephone: 404-632-5062. Email: [email protected] .

Author Affiliations: 1 National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.

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I Thought We’d Learned Nothing From the Pandemic. I Wasn’t Seeing the Full Picture

M y first home had a back door that opened to a concrete patio with a giant crack down the middle. When my sister and I played, I made sure to stay on the same side of the divide as her, just in case. The 1988 film The Land Before Time was one of the first movies I ever saw, and the image of the earth splintering into pieces planted its roots in my brain. I believed that, even in my own backyard, I could easily become the tiny Triceratops separated from her family, on the other side of the chasm, as everything crumbled into chaos.

Some 30 years later, I marvel at the eerie, unexpected ways that cartoonish nightmare came to life – not just for me and my family, but for all of us. The landscape was already covered in fissures well before COVID-19 made its way across the planet, but the pandemic applied pressure, and the cracks broke wide open, separating us from each other physically and ideologically. Under the weight of the crisis, we scattered and landed on such different patches of earth we could barely see each other’s faces, even when we squinted. We disagreed viciously with each other, about how to respond, but also about what was true.

Recently, someone asked me if we’ve learned anything from the pandemic, and my first thought was a flat no. Nothing. There was a time when I thought it would be the very thing to draw us together and catapult us – as a capital “S” Society – into a kinder future. It’s surreal to remember those early days when people rallied together, sewing masks for health care workers during critical shortages and gathering on balconies in cities from Dallas to New York City to clap and sing songs like “Yellow Submarine.” It felt like a giant lightning bolt shot across the sky, and for one breath, we all saw something that had been hidden in the dark – the inherent vulnerability in being human or maybe our inescapable connectedness .

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But it turns out, it was just a flash. The goodwill vanished as quickly as it appeared. A couple of years later, people feel lied to, abandoned, and all on their own. I’ve felt my own curiosity shrinking, my willingness to reach out waning , my ability to keep my hands open dwindling. I look out across the landscape and see selfishness and rage, burnt earth and so many dead bodies. Game over. We lost. And if we’ve already lost, why try?

Still, the question kept nagging me. I wondered, am I seeing the full picture? What happens when we focus not on the collective society but at one face, one story at a time? I’m not asking for a bow to minimize the suffering – a pretty flourish to put on top and make the whole thing “worth it.” Yuck. That’s not what we need. But I wondered about deep, quiet growth. The kind we feel in our bodies, relationships, homes, places of work, neighborhoods.

Like a walkie-talkie message sent to my allies on the ground, I posted a call on my Instagram. What do you see? What do you hear? What feels possible? Is there life out here? Sprouting up among the rubble? I heard human voices calling back – reports of life, personal and specific. I heard one story at a time – stories of grief and distrust, fury and disappointment. Also gratitude. Discovery. Determination.

Among the most prevalent were the stories of self-revelation. Almost as if machines were given the chance to live as humans, people described blossoming into fuller selves. They listened to their bodies’ cues, recognized their desires and comforts, tuned into their gut instincts, and honored the intuition they hadn’t realized belonged to them. Alex, a writer and fellow disabled parent, found the freedom to explore a fuller version of herself in the privacy the pandemic provided. “The way I dress, the way I love, and the way I carry myself have both shrunk and expanded,” she shared. “I don’t love myself very well with an audience.” Without the daily ritual of trying to pass as “normal” in public, Tamar, a queer mom in the Netherlands, realized she’s autistic. “I think the pandemic helped me to recognize the mask,” she wrote. “Not that unmasking is easy now. But at least I know it’s there.” In a time of widespread suffering that none of us could solve on our own, many tended to our internal wounds and misalignments, large and small, and found clarity.

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I wonder if this flourishing of self-awareness is at least partially responsible for the life alterations people pursued. The pandemic broke open our personal notions of work and pushed us to reevaluate things like time and money. Lucy, a disabled writer in the U.K., made the hard decision to leave her job as a journalist covering Westminster to write freelance about her beloved disability community. “This work feels important in a way nothing else has ever felt,” she wrote. “I don’t think I’d have realized this was what I should be doing without the pandemic.” And she wasn’t alone – many people changed jobs , moved, learned new skills and hobbies, became politically engaged.

Perhaps more than any other shifts, people described a significant reassessment of their relationships. They set boundaries, said no, had challenging conversations. They also reconnected, fell in love, and learned to trust. Jeanne, a quilter in Indiana, got to know relatives she wouldn’t have connected with if lockdowns hadn’t prompted weekly family Zooms. “We are all over the map as regards to our belief systems,” she emphasized, “but it is possible to love people you don’t see eye to eye with on every issue.” Anna, an anti-violence advocate in Maine, learned she could trust her new marriage: “Life was not a honeymoon. But we still chose to turn to each other with kindness and curiosity.” So many bonds forged and broken, strengthened and strained.

Instead of relying on default relationships or institutional structures, widespread recalibrations allowed for going off script and fortifying smaller communities. Mara from Idyllwild, Calif., described the tangible plan for care enacted in her town. “We started a mutual-aid group at the beginning of the pandemic,” she wrote, “and it grew so quickly before we knew it we were feeding 400 of the 4000 residents.” She didn’t pretend the conditions were ideal. In fact, she expressed immense frustration with our collective response to the pandemic. Even so, the local group rallied and continues to offer assistance to their community with help from donations and volunteers (many of whom were originally on the receiving end of support). “I’ve learned that people thrive when they feel their connection to others,” she wrote. Clare, a teacher from the U.K., voiced similar conviction as she described a giant scarf she’s woven out of ribbons, each representing a single person. The scarf is “a collection of stories, moments and wisdom we are sharing with each other,” she wrote. It now stretches well over 1,000 feet.

A few hours into reading the comments, I lay back on my bed, phone held against my chest. The room was quiet, but my internal world was lighting up with firefly flickers. What felt different? Surely part of it was receiving personal accounts of deep-rooted growth. And also, there was something to the mere act of asking and listening. Maybe it connected me to humans before battle cries. Maybe it was the chance to be in conversation with others who were also trying to understand – what is happening to us? Underneath it all, an undeniable thread remained; I saw people peering into the mess and narrating their findings onto the shared frequency. Every comment was like a flare into the sky. I’m here! And if the sky is full of flares, we aren’t alone.

I recognized my own pandemic discoveries – some minor, others massive. Like washing off thick eyeliner and mascara every night is more effort than it’s worth; I can transform the mundane into the magical with a bedsheet, a movie projector, and twinkle lights; my paralyzed body can mother an infant in ways I’d never seen modeled for me. I remembered disappointing, bewildering conversations within my own family of origin and our imperfect attempts to remain close while also seeing things so differently. I realized that every time I get the weekly invite to my virtual “Find the Mumsies” call, with a tiny group of moms living hundreds of miles apart, I’m being welcomed into a pocket of unexpected community. Even though we’ve never been in one room all together, I’ve felt an uncommon kind of solace in their now-familiar faces.

Hope is a slippery thing. I desperately want to hold onto it, but everywhere I look there are real, weighty reasons to despair. The pandemic marks a stretch on the timeline that tangles with a teetering democracy, a deteriorating planet , the loss of human rights that once felt unshakable . When the world is falling apart Land Before Time style, it can feel trite, sniffing out the beauty – useless, firing off flares to anyone looking for signs of life. But, while I’m under no delusions that if we just keep trudging forward we’ll find our own oasis of waterfalls and grassy meadows glistening in the sunshine beneath a heavenly chorus, I wonder if trivializing small acts of beauty, connection, and hope actually cuts us off from resources essential to our survival. The group of abandoned dinosaurs were keeping each other alive and making each other laugh well before they made it to their fantasy ending.

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After the monarch butterfly went on the endangered-species list, my friend and fellow writer Hannah Soyer sent me wildflower seeds to plant in my yard. A simple act of big hope – that I will actually plant them, that they will grow, that a monarch butterfly will receive nourishment from whatever blossoms are able to push their way through the dirt. There are so many ways that could fail. But maybe the outcome wasn’t exactly the point. Maybe hope is the dogged insistence – the stubborn defiance – to continue cultivating moments of beauty regardless. There is value in the planting apart from the harvest.

I can’t point out a single collective lesson from the pandemic. It’s hard to see any great “we.” Still, I see the faces in my moms’ group, making pancakes for their kids and popping on between strings of meetings while we try to figure out how to raise these small people in this chaotic world. I think of my friends on Instagram tending to the selves they discovered when no one was watching and the scarf of ribbons stretching the length of more than three football fields. I remember my family of three, holding hands on the way up the ramp to the library. These bits of growth and rings of support might not be loud or right on the surface, but that’s not the same thing as nothing. If we only cared about the bottom-line defeats or sweeping successes of the big picture, we’d never plant flowers at all.

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