It was an early Friday morning, March 13 to be exact, and it was expected that there would be lesser students due to the fact that the administration has decided to send students, teachers, and staff home if they were found of a high temperature or symptoms of the virus. The main talk that was going around was – what would school look like for the rest of the school year. Turns out we won’t even know the answer to that question as the school year was initially suspended, then ended, and we were faced with a new challenge: quarantine.
Thoughts entered my mind as to what this so-called “new normal” was going to look like. Looking at our situation back then, it was very tough as the number of cases were slowly rising and we were struggling on how to face the situation until now. So I knew by then, we were going to stay at home for a very long time.
The only struggle that I was facing everyday was not only how to spend my time, but how to make it productive. Thus, I decided to try things which I used to ignore before because of the lack of time due to other more important things that I need to focus on such as my studies and extracurricular activities. With this pandemic, I have given much time to unlock many possibilities, hone my skills — such as playing musical instruments like keyboard, guitar, etc. together with my siblings. These are times that made me realize that I have still more to discover to myself and I that I need to spend more time with my siblings.
With the enormous amount of time, I allowed myself to immerse in reflection. The browsing of social media has helped me to have a keen and positive perspective on the situation. It has led me to learn a lot of valuable lessons in life – to always be grateful and appreciate the simple things every day because not everybody experiences these things that we may think is just a part of our very long day. I spent more time on knowing God and listening to Him through prayer. My family have been able to build a family altar in our home to which every night we come together and thank God for all the blessings amidst crisis; we pray for our nation, we pray for what the future holds for all of us.
Nobody knows when will these rough times end or what new obstacles or challenges lies ahead in the future. But one thing is for sure, God is true to His promises. This too shall pass, we just need to trust in Him.
Periel Matthew Panganiban, Grade 7 Junior High School Student
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