Pandemic
Pandemic
Before my first class of the day, on my whiteboard, I would write the date. Today I wrote “Friday, March 13, 2020.”
At the time, the stories of a pandemic seemed so far away. I kept my classroom exceptionally clean, wiping the desks down with bleach as recommended by the CDC.
Here at the academy, we use the military model since most of our one hundred plus students, or cadets as we call them, have had poor academic experiences to this point.
Some will become “super seniors” or students who will have to stay another year to get enough credits to graduate.
Others will move on to local high schools to give things another try. I teach language arts.
We are just finishing Elie Wiesel’s Night where we explored the horrors of the Holocaust. Horrors that still exist in certain parts of the world today, no matter how horrible the results are. We can never seem to get it right, that part where we are supposed to care about our fellow man.
March 13, 2020 was a Friday as 2020 has an extra Friday the 13th if you are superstitious about such things as I am. When we tempt fate, we usually find ourselves swimming in septic water.
I have a deep respect for such things. We were getting ready for the final on the book, making sure everyone had their notes because it would be an open note/book test.
On my desk, one of our teachers has lent a book of rules and expectations that was given to all the people walking in the front gate of Auschwitz. Upon the front gate there was a sign that read “Arbeit Macht Frei” (Translated “Work Makes (you) Free). What made this such a terrible souvenir was the inside cover where there were over twenty stamps from the former owners. I kept this book on my desk as a reminder to all what happens when we are not vigilant.
It is a hoax.
This super virus was something Bill Gates did to teach us a lesson. It came from a laboratory in China. My daughter was a child we adopted from China.
Maybe it came from Italy since there were reports of so many deaths there. It is like the flu. It attacks the respiratory system making it difficult to breath. There was no cure.
You had to wear a mask and stand six feet apart. You must wash your hands and use hand sanitizer. With all that goes on during the day here, one more thing like this would be nearly impossible to enforce. There have been reports of hand sanitizer squirt bottle fights.
“Was it true? Did six million Jews die during the Holocaust?” Yes, and one million Romas (gypsies), mentally ill people, political dissenters, communists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Catholics both Easter Orthodox and Roman, etc. “The bystanders watched it happen and did nothing.” There are children at the border who are separated from their parents.
The trauma resulting from this is undetermined and hidden as most traumas are.
“May I have your attention, please.” The voice over the loudspeaker breaks in, “We have the buses here. We are sending all of the students home at this time. Repeat…” I watched them get on the buses and leave. We still had about two hours left in the school day, but just like that it was over. I take my whiteboard eraser and remove all the marks I have put on the board during the day. The last thing I erase is “Friday, March 13, 2020.” Spring break was supposed to start next week. I figured things would be cleared up by then and we will return the first week of April at the latest.
I was wrong.
Thank you for coming to my blog. I post at least once a month, but I try for twice a month in order to keep writing. I hope you enjoyed what you read.