The one I’m most closely associated with is COVID-19. Especially when it first broke out in China, it caught everyone off guard. Because my family was all in China, I was very worried about their health. Thanks to the strong quarantine measures taken by the Chinese government, my family is all right and not infected. It wasn’t until the outbreak reached New York that I began to realize the danger was around me. At that time, the situation was reversed. My family called me every day to check on me. Everything is fine for me, but the situation around me is getting worse. The first thing to get up every day is to turn on the phone to check the number of new infections and deaths today. But only rising numbers. When I started wearing a mask, the media and people around me felt that I was making a fuss. COVID-19 was just the flu. I wanted to refute but no one believed me. Until New York announced to lock down the city, my roommate’s bubble milk tea shop in Chinatown was also forced to shut down. I’m also lost my part-time job which is work in a restaurant. Throughout 2020, I feel like I can’t do anything. I can only watch the disaster happen but I can’t do much.
Jiayang, I am moved by the account of you first worrying about your family in China last year and them worrying about you when things began to get bad in NY. Being so far away from your family is another example of how relationships can happen through a screen. Your last line reminds me of Allende’s story; the narrator is watching the disaster unfold, but can’t do anything to help.