By: Kyle Xu

We all have nightmares of a sudden disease conquering the entire world, spreading across cities and countries, putting entire populations in peril, and killing millions each day.

And we’ve all woken up panting and sweating in the middle of our beds, free from the nightmare and glad that such a horror couldn’t actually happen in the real world.

But could it? All changed on a meaningful day in late 2019 in Wuhan, China, where SARS-CoV-2 passed onto humans, instantly causing the coronavirus outbreak and expanding its roots to the entire world.

After the spread of the illness, millions died every day, mostly the elderly. For years, the disease terrorized humans and spread fear. Scientists were hard at work 24/7, trying to find a cure, a vaccine, or anything to save humankind.

But before the vaccine was discovered, the world shut down due to COVID-19. Why couldn’t children go to school? The answer was obvious. If one person, just one, had the disease, the entire school would soon have it. But did it mean that we shouldn’t educate anymore? Of course not. So we logged onto our laptops and continued learning—virtually and on computers.

Many people hated this because it prevented them from meeting their friends in person and because they didn’t like being pent up indoors with nowhere fun to go. Birthday party? Forget it. No public place would even be open.

Although most people would say instantly that they hated the quarantine, I hesitate. Instead, I have mixed feelings about the 2020 quarantine.

First of all, it introduced me to a whole side of life that I’d never met before. Before the quarantine, I didn’t know that such things as computers even existed. I did have fun on the computer, exploring Google, creating a Gmail account, and still keeping in touch with my friends.

The quarantine also meant paradise for people who felt lazy, particularly me. If you used to go to hours of grueling sports and felt it was too much, the quarantine allowed you to save a face full of pain and sweat each day and get fat and content eating chips on the couch and watching television.

But staying home meant missing out on a lot of fun with your friends. When my school was allowed a sample of in-person life at the end of the quarantine year, I had a blast. For a sociable person like me, I’d never seen so many kids in one place. I made friends left and right and definitely had a great time.

So that’s my opinion on the 2020 quarantine. What’s yours?