Reflecting on the Positives and the Negitives in Life

It is currently Tuesday, April 14, 8:32 PM. I’m sitting in my bed right now reflecting on these past four weeks of online school. Spring break has just started. Lately, I have been weighing the positive and negative things in my life. 

For example, some of the positive things are I will be able to get higher than a 4.0 GPA this semester. In my educational career, I have never been able to accomplish this goal and I am very excited about this chance. From the help of my teachers and my own drive and hard work, I have been able to accomplish this from the start of the spring semester through my 10-week quarter grades (before online school began.) 

I have also actually been getting a lot closer to my family. We have had cooking nights, movie times, and walks. Something that I have also learned is how to work out and get exercise. I feel working out and getting exercise is very important for all of us due to us sitting inside most of the day. 

However, there also been some negatives of being home for many weeks unable to leave. I really do miss my friends. Luckily, I am on FaceTime with them every single night. Something that really hit me the other day was when I found out that as of a few days ago if you are found on the streets of L.A. or in a grocery store without a mask on you will be fined with $1000. It is just crazy what this world has come to. Something that also struck me like a lightning bolt was that I was at Trader Joe’s almost 3 days ago and last night at that same Trader Joe’s an employee tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.

Currently, at this time in my life, I am keeping my head held high hoping that everyone is safe. I am trying new things out in my life and trying to become a better me. I am learning new things that I never knew I was capable of doing.

I would like to share this poem my mother read to me.

This poem was written in 1869 by Kathleen O’Mara.

It was reprinted during the 1919 Pandemic. It sounds just as relevant today.

And people stayed at home

And read books

And listened

And they rested

And did exercises

And made art and played

And learned new ways of being

And stopped and listened

More deeply

Someone meditated, someone prayed

Someone met their shadow

And people began to think differently

And people healed.

And in the absence of people who

Lived in ignorant ways

Dangerous, meaningless and heartless,

The earth also began to heal

And when the danger ended and

People found themselves

They grieved for the dead

And made new choices

And dreamed of new visions

And created new ways of living

And completely healed the earth

Just as they were healed.