We were eating dinner when we received the message.
Classes would be moved online for the remainder of the semester, and students were encouraged to move home.
The news was not a surprise. It had never been a question of if, but when. For days, we had watched the mounting fear around the world as businesses shut down, borders closed, and cases continued to spike. We had gone to three stores that day, searching for toilet paper. The rumors were true. The shelves were completely empty.
Some are comparing this global panic to a time of war. A crisis. They say this will be one of the defining moments of our generation.
They say that our children, our grandchildren, our future historians will want to know exactly what it was like during the 2020 pandemic.
RECORDING HISTORY
It may be a little hard to take this sentiment seriously, when all anyone can talk about right now is this elephant in the room. People are joking about incompetent professors attempting to run online classes (“he can barely use PowerPoint!”), the ridiculous toilet paper shortage (“what are you going to do, make a toilet paper fort to protect yourself?”), and introverts having the time of their lives social distancing (“apparently my normal routine has a name”). But at least laughter is better than fear and despair. Sometimes, it’s all you can do.
Or is it?
Significant historical events of the past have made their way into our history books because somebody wrote them down. With all the news coverage of the COVID-19 outbreak, there will certainly be a very specific timeline and an abundance of statistics.
BUT WHAT ABOUT DAILY LIFE?
I personally think this is the most fascinating part of history: learning how daily life changed during a crisis. Probably the most famous diary of all time is Anne Frank’s, and it has helped us understand, in the decades since the Holocaust, exactly what life was like during that time. It communicates the horrors of hiding from the Nazis, but also the small moments of joy the people were able to find. The details of Frank’s diary will continue to be one of the best primary sources for remembering those years of history.
To give a more recent example, the 9/11 terrorist attacks caused a similar social panic in the United States. The uncertainty, extensive news coverage, and feeling out of control are reminiscent of what’s happening today. But it’s the personal accounts of survivors that determine how we remember these events, because it connects us to real people. Even people on the other side of the country were affected by the horror and grief and fear. Everyone has the story of where they were when they heard about the attacks. Crouching around little televisions at the office or in school. It speaks to the magnitude of the event.
So, with the COVID-19 outbreak, we’re all supposed to be isolating ourselves to slow the spread of the disease. Everyone feels they have lost control. People are looking someone at whom they can direct their anger, but there is really no one, no face we can blame for this madness. It creates a strange mood.
And I think all we can do now is write about it.
WHY YOU SHOULD JOURNAL DURING A CRISIS
Keeping individual records of today’s events has several benefits. First, keeping a physical journal—with pen and paper—will give you a break from the excessive screen time we’ve had to incorporate into our lives to keep the world running. Writing by hand also forces you to slow down and be more thoughtful about the words you are committing to the page. Plus, what else are you going to do in social isolation?
Next, tangible documents are much more likely to survive in a few hundred years. We don’t know what will happen to our documents on the infamous “cloud” storage, or if we will be able to use our flash drives in future computers. Paper documents have been our source of history up until this point, and historians are saying there’s no reason to believe that will stop now.
Finally, the act of recording these events in a journal will at least give you some interesting insights to look back on. You might forget how you passed the time while social distancing, or the strange apocalyptic mood at the grocery store, but if you write down what’s happening and how you feel about it, you’ll be able to access those memories when the pandemic has become only a pinpoint on the historical timeline.
If you’re anything like me, I go through journal-keeping phases. This is a perfect time to start a new one. It’s a great way to write every day, and maybe this will kickstart a new habit for us.
Keep your head up and your pen moving, everyone. As of right now, we’ll be back with your regularly scheduled Writing Rules Project posts next week.
Comment below: What are some ways you’re dealing with social distancing?