Op-Ed: What Life Is Not

The New York Times recently published all the names of those who passed away in the United States due to the coronavirus in its front page, as well as some details of their lives. It is a good memorial, admittedly, but while the world is still busy fighting what has been called a pandemic, I have decided to discuss something else.

Lockdowns should not define who we are in the future no matter its necessity. To be imprisoned is to lose ourself, to lose our freedoms, to lose the essence of living. The Class of 2020 deserves their commencement exercises, because college is hard and they will only graduate once. They have all the right to celebrate their triumphs in surviving college, and partly because their student loans will mature soon.

A lot should have happened in the world and we missed it. Not all of us will live longer than the others, so whatever we need to do, we should do it now. Life is all about making memories, doing adventures, and collecting pieces of ourselves when we travel. Life is meant to be shared, and social distancing will only destroy friendships, affection, and general positivity; it now implies the hugs for our loved ones would be a criminal act.

What life is not is probably a philosophical inquiry that will require thorough examination of our conscience, or our ego, or whatever definition we hold as true. Truth is absolute, but truth is never universally accepted. Sometimes, what is known is incomplete and partially true. Newton has been challenged by the Theory of Relativity, and Dalton's Atomic Theory was challenged with the notion that atoms can, in fact, be divided.

So now we look at newspaper front pages with the same enthusiasm as before, or maybe not for some of us. Life should be about celebrations, but newspapers almost always record humanity's failures. Paraphrasing Earl Warren, he once said that he'd go straight to the sports page, which records humanity's triumphs.

Tokyo 2020 is an opportunity to see athletes celebrate humanity's achievements, and now we have to postpone it. What the world needs is more positivity, and not to desensitize us on deaths. Everything is mixed up and fake news is real, and it is out there, lurking.

When fake news are travelling at a record speed, we need to discern more than ever. But as of this writing, the world is still suffering from a disease that seems to have no cure. To top it all, misinformation is everywhere. And now we need to face our problems again no matter how badly we want to escape them.

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