In late March of 2020, I found myself writing my first article for the Lehi City Ledger. The subject was focused on new terminology that had been recently introduced to the world:
“Social distancing.”
At that time, Covid-19 had announced itself in a manner that only a few past centuries had ever experienced: a worldwide pandemic.
The main focus in the Ledger was that of hope. My article shared some of the creative good deeds that Lehi residents were doing for one another during a time of intense lock down. It expressed acute optimism of a swift recovery back to a “normal” routine of pre-pandemic life. An idea that perhaps this pandemic was a thief in the night, and that the morning sunrise was just a few short hours away.
Fast forward two years later, and I find myself questioning that “hope” in that article. The pandemic still rages strong, with the creation of recent artillery in the form of two diabolical variants that go by the names of, Delta and Omicron. Was it truly “hope” that I was expressing in that 2020 article, or was it simply naive ignorance?
I think it was an equal cocktail of both.
It’s fair to say that in the two years since writing that article, my ignorance regarding the pandemic has subsided (situational experiences tend to do that to an individual.) However the seed of hope that was planted in 2020 has not subsided, and instead has taken root.
Since that article, a vaccine was created and has been administered to the masses. At home lockdowns are no longer mandatory, and businesses are open to the public as usual. The threat of the virus is still very much of real concern, however the fear that it once inflicted on individuals has come to a standstill.
I am, once again, acutely optimistic that the end of this pandemic is close. I water that seed of hope daily, and am aware that there are greater forces, than men or women themselves, that are orchestrating the recovery of a pre-pandemic life for each of us.
Here’s to a confident and bright 2022.
-Katie Koivisto
