Day 145: We Will Not Forget What We Have Learned
Day 145: August 18, 2020
Global Cases: 22, 297, 261; Deaths: 783, 513
Egypt Cases: 96, 753; Deaths: 5, 184
Matthew Hendershot
Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies and Academy of Liberal Arts
As the bus carries us back to Cairo, I stare out the window towards the Red Sea. I love its enchanting character and nature.
From close up or afar, from above the water or below, during the night or day, the Red Sea is a stunning work of beauty.
Every summer, after another academic year full of writing and reviewing reports, preparing curriculum, reviewing syllabi, handling problems, responding to endless emails, participating in countless meetings, and of course all the teaching and grading that comes with university life, I always look forward to a few days at the Red Sea.
It gives me time to reflect and refresh, to reset my mind, and to spend some time with my family. But no matter how many days we spend at the Red Sea, they always pass too quickly. In what always seems like a blink of an eye, we find ourselves once again back on a bus returning to Cairo.
The sign says 235 kilometers until I get to Cairo. I sure hope that gives me enough time to write this post.
As I continue to stare out the window, I reflect on how much time has elapsed since I was asked to write about what life has been like during the pandemic. Somehow, one day turned into two, two into four, and then a week, and in no time a month had passed, and then two, and well … now I am ashamed to admit how many months have zipped by.
As I stare at the waves breaking over the reef, I reflect on these months and all that has happened since the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic began.
211 kilometers until Cairo!?!
Did it really just take me 24 kilometers to write those two paragraphs? Was is the beauty of the Red Sea that distracted me or was I just lost in thought reflecting about life since the pandemic?
How does one even describe 2020?
To say it has not gone like any of us planned is an extreme understatement. The pandemic has disrupted so much of life – globally, economically, educationally, politically, medically, and more.
Many families have lost loved ones; many others are facing financial devastation. Between lockdowns, travel restrictions, remote work and social distancing, the flow of life has changed.
The idea of working from home, and the resulting saved travel time, seems like it should somehow make life feel less busy, but I feel busier than ever. With so much of the global economy stalled or contracting, it seems that somehow it would equate to less work, but I feel like I have more work than ever.
Daily, I crush through a barrage of emails, trying to keep my inbox from multiplying out of control.
I jump from one Zoom call to another, and it seems like I always have Google Drive open collaborating on shared projects and documents.
I know that many people have become fatigued from online meetings and work, but I have found them to be quite productive. Yet, despite all of this work and productivity, I can’t remember the last time I have even felt close to caught up.
That might be why it has taken me so many months to write this post.
Maybe it is the fact that I have four kids at home and that my wife and I are trying to provide supplemental homeschooling for them since so much of their last semester was disrupted, and it seems likely that the coming semester will face similar disruptions.
Maybe it is the time it has taken to follow up with our many friends and family who have had or currently have COVID-19.
Maybe it is the time and emotional energy is takes to express condolences and share grief with the many people we know who have lost loved ones due to COVID-19.
Maybe it is the two different times we had to put my wife in full quarantine after she spent extended time with close friends who had COVID-19.
Maybe it is watching the protests and riots tearing through many streets in my birth country, including my home city. Knowing that the Floyd family senselessly lost a dear brother, son, father, and husband just tears at my heart.
Maybe it is the constant stories of senseless deaths such as with Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Winston Ortiz, Ace Lucas, Janari Ricks, or Secoriea Turner.
Maybe it is reading so many stories of small business owners losing their livelihoods through the subsequent looting and arson.
Maybe it is knowing that in the ongoing aftermath of this upheaval that there has been such a dramatic increase of violent shootings in many urban areas that police can’t even keep up.
This constant barrage of sad news from my birth country, weighs heavy on my heart. It just seems that the fabric of society is tearing apart, and extreme polarization spreads.
Maybe it has been trying to coordinate and arrange help for the many refugees in our area who are unemployed and in desperate situations because of the pandemic.
Maybe it is the fact that I have not physically recovered nearly as quickly as I had hoped after a rather surprise and urgent back surgery in February.
Physical therapy could greatly help my struggling recovery, but are regular visits to see a physical therapist worth the potential exposure to coronavirus?
Maybe this? Maybe that? Maybe something else? That is life in 2020.
Lots of questions. Lots of uncertainty. Lots of disruptions, but not many clear and straightforward answers.
Yet, despite the disruptions, loss and uncertainty, I can’t help but appreciate some of the surprise blessings of the year.
During 2020, I’ve been able to spend much more time with my family. I’ve read more books with my boys. We’ve enjoyed more family Bible studies and prayer times than we normally are able to do. We’ve watched some great documentaries together. We’ve created a nightly fruit-eating contest. (It turns out that gamifying healthy eating can accomplish quite a lot).
Over these months, we’ve discussed so many diverse topics from digital privacy to from the importance of the microbiome, from tech security to the basics of financing and debt, from healthy eating and living to how black holes work, from the underground resistance movement against Hitler during World War II to how venture capitalists and investing work, from the costs of war to how water filtration works.
Most recently, I’ve been teaching my boys how to critically evaluate and assess early entrepreneurial starts ups, and allowing them to contribute their thoughts and analysis into which start ups I should invest into.
During the pandemic, I have also contacted some friends that time and distance had led to less frequent communication.
Reconnecting with these friends, even if briefly and digitally has been a great pleasure.
I’ve finished a number of projects around the house that had been on the to-do list for too long. I love plants and gardening, and despite trying to grow everything in flower pots on our tiny balcony, nevertheless, I have the best and healthiest set of flowers, plants, peppers, and herbs that I’ve been able to grow since moving to Egypt nine years ago.
Who knows how long this pandemic will last, how slowly life will return back to normal, or what the new normal will even look like.
Much of me longs for some of the “normalcy” and good things that represented pre-pandemic life. Yet, it would be such a loss to lose some of the great blessings from 2020.
Maybe by the end of 2021 we can have the best of both. Life without masks and social distancing, but also better connection to friends and family, more appreciation for life, and less focus on the purely material things of life and more focus on the important things that give such meaning, direction, and purpose to our lives.
As I look out the window, the Red Sea is long since gone, but I feel refreshed.
A few days at the Red Sea has done its work. Alhumdulillah.
The sign now says that we still have 56 kilometers until Cairo. With the time that remains, I think I’ll pull out a book and read a few chapters to my boys.
The book is about the incredible adventure of a father and a son hiking the 4,270 km long Pacific Crest Trail together. Prioritizing the important things of life, my boys and I also are planning on hiking this same trail in 2029.
By that time, 2020 will seem far away, but hopefully we will not have forgotten what we all learned during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
