Due to this virus, life has basically come to a halt for most people. School has been cancelled, for the rest of the year in some places, which means field trips, proms, and graduations have also been cancelled. A lot of other things have been cancelled that people are upset about (concerts, recitals, festivals, etc.), and people have very right to be upset about those too, myself included, but my main focus here is going to be on school.
A lot of kids are in their last year of whatever level of school they are in. A lot of things happen in those last years, trips, dances, graduations, etc., and these kids won't get to experience those events. They have been looking forward to these moments all year, maybe more for some of them. They've worked hard to get where they are now. They deserve to celebrate these milestones. Now that all of that has been cancelled, these kids are heartbroken and they have every right to be. I know I would be.
What is really getting me is the older people on Facebook saying how kids today shouldn't be as upset as they are about their events and milestones being cancelled because at least they're only being asked to stay home on the couch and not being drafted and sent off to a war they may not come back from. I even saw a comment from one woman stating that we need to bring the draft back because "a lot of young people are lazy and on drugs." What?
I'm really sick of these "I suffered, so you have to suffer" and "don't complain because some else has/had it worse" mentalities. That's like saying don't be happy or excited about things because someone else has it better than you. Just stop. Let people feel their feelings about things. Let the kids grieve the loss of their school year. Have some compassion and be supportive.
This is a hard time for pretty much everyone. The least we can do is be kind to each other and stop being to condescending.
