Thinking in the Era of Covid-19

After a year and a half of the pandemic shutdown, it is wonderful to see things starting to “normalize” a bit on campus. But as this happens I have noticed that people, including myself, are tending to have a hyper-critical eye on how it happens. The new protocols are obviously not going to please everyone, but I think we could all use a shift in mindset to appreciate the creativity of others at this time. 

 

I was guilty of being this critical eye recently when, browsing through the Green River College website, I came upon a link to “Ask a Gator”. Having never watched any of these before, I was excited to see what it was all about. The first time I watched, I found myself nit-picking apart every little aspect of it. I mean really, who cares what people’s favorite stationery item is? Couldn’t they come up with better questions than that? I continued down this rabbit hole for quite awhile until it hit me, “Why am I doing this? What is causing me to be so fault-finding”?

 

If I must blame something, I will blame the pandemic. These have been unprecedented times for most of us, turning to social media more than ever to connect and wanting so desperately for things to right themselves that we forget about the damage it has done emotionally, psychologically, and professionally. When restaurants opened up, we were critical of their new rules, when schools opened up we were critical of the mask and distancing protocols. I believe we all need to step back, breath, and take a beat before being so quick to judge. 

 

I decide to do just this with the Ask a Gator episode I had previously watched. I watched it again. And again. Each time trying to focus on the creativity as well as the imposed restrictions of the producers. I found myself shifting my mindset and it felt good. I was able to see the episode for what it was… an opportunity to engage the community. Students were just coming to the campus for fall classes and this episode allowed real students to feel heard for the first time in a long time. The questions, which I first thought were ridiculous, took on a new light. I found them simple but unique and interviewees were quick to answer these uncommon questions. I found myself realizing how weird it must have felt for the producers as well as the interviewees to be part of this, of anything, since the start of the pandemic.

 

While I wouldn’t say it is my favorite episode of Ask a Gator, I will say that I learned much from watching it. Much more than the answers to the questions. I learned that we seemed to have become much more critical of things and people during this time being all cooped up and fixated on ourselves and social media. Perhaps this will serve as a reminder to all to step back, breath, and look past the obvious. Perhaps this will serve as a reminder that we are all doing the best we can during these strange times, and to seek to understand before judging. Much like a cookie recipe, oftentimes we can and need to replace some ingredients. Who knows, perhaps by doing so we create a better cookie.