An Ordinary Person's Perspective on an Extraordinary Year

A few months into the Covid-19 pandemic, just as it was getting real, I learned there was a documentary about the influenza pandemic of 1918 and sat down it to watch. I was struck by the similarities between that time and the experiences we were having over one hundred years later. Digging a little deeper, I found that there were tremendous efforts to learn from the devastation of that disease to prepare us for the next, inevitable pandemic. I couldn't help but wonder what life was really like back then. How things were the same and how they were different. Surely now, with worldwide internet connectivity, instantaneous communication, advances in medicine and learnings from past pandemics, we should be in a good place to stop this thing in its tracks. But, despite all our modern-day tools, we failed to control the spread. Instead, we let this virus sicken and kill millions of people while we became a more divided, more reactive, and more broken species. I hope stories like this one help us to learn. I am not an expert on the Covid-19 virus, vaccinations, treatments for viruses, or the psychological effects of the pandemic on people. Despite having a career in healthcare, I am not a public health or infectious disease expert, nor am I well-educated in politics or social sciences. I am not an expert in anything, really. I am just brave enough and have sufficient time on my hands to write down and share a story. But it is just a story about what was happening in my world. You may not agree with me or with my reactions, which doesn't make me right or wrong. It just proves that we have different views, are in a different phase of life, or that our experiences have shaped our perspectives differently. I am an American who was born and raised in Southern California. This is the story of an ordinary person and her thoughts about an extraordinary time. It is also an opportunity to say thank you to the friends and family who helped me through some of the most impactful and tragic days of my life.