Following the end of February, which gave us a ton of love-related memes, comes another month that sure brought us into a panic mode. Really, I’m not going to lie, this quarantine period that’s been around for what seemed like an eternity urged me to wash my hands more often than before.
Though, moving through the context that would pretty make me seem like an insensitive dude; when I heard that the whole Luzon was community quarantined, enhanced even, I got really salty because everyone’s classes got suspended … and there… the thought came that maybe, we would get a suspension too. I was about to head back to bed with this feeling of pure bliss… me thinking about the things I would be able to do with all the time I now have, and that’s when I realized that nothing has changed.
I have to admit that again, as I went back to my seat with my laptop in front of me, I cried with salty tears because just then… my moment … my corona dream of peak introversion was hammered down by reality.
So, after scrolling through Facebook to see how everyone is holding up while secretly wishing that at least one of us would react, and after sorting out through all the memes involving underperforming politicians, people flexing their suspended classes, and people spreading the ways on how to “cure” the coronavirus (by using steam of all things), I suddenly had that moment of introspection. It made me step back and throw my phone at the side of my bed, still being salty though, and let the thought linger in my head that maybe.. just maybe… this is not a bad thing after all. Nothing has changed and that was the point… that’s the thing that I should be, as a student of UPOU, be proud of.
Sure, having a deadline waving its awkward hand at you at the end of the week when everyone is pretty much having a week off would not make it better but then again, the fact that we’re still having classes proves my point. Us taking this on like nothing was up, despite how everyone was behaving or panicking, proves that our foundations are strong. This is something that I could really flex about because really, imagine getting your graduation pushed back by a few months just because classes need to be suspended.
Nevertheless, nothing has changed and I still have deadlines too. So for others, you all need to stop being salty. And for those who are out there in the frontlines doing work for the people, I’m cheering you on and remember, our university was built to provide opportunities to those who already had their hands full, and not put on extra weight for others to carry. Let’s just do what we usually do, let’s survive and let’s show them what we’re capable of.
Written by Keizer Philip B. Ancajas (Student of UPOU Bachelor of Arts in Multimedia Studies)
Photo by Christian Guevarra (UPOU Information Office)
UP Open University 
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