By Meg Jerit ’20
This piece first appeared in The Commercial Appeal on March 31, 2020. Meg Jerit is an English major at Rhodes.
As a senior, remote learning is an unusual way to wrap up college; but what eclipses this reality is, of course, how COVID-19 is affecting the entire world. Though individuals across the globe are being asked to retreat and isolate, I find myself reflecting on how this situation is creating more intentionality, consciousness, and empathy surrounding social engagement.
Virtual communication is the means for so many people in the world right now, as we all simultaneously try to get acclimated to words such as “asynchronous” and create new routines that keep us sane as the days go on. This is a rare time in history when we all will be required to be on the same page, and, even more so, to slow down and fully recognize that unifying fact.
Social distancing, whether we like it or not, has prompted Rhodes College students to discover new ways to communicate with each other and make meaningful connections. Students are reaching out to one another, and perhaps even more now, as some of us are moving toward that graduation finish line. Although students may not have human contact, they still can give “virtual hugs” by checking in with each other through texting or by participating in chains of support on Instagram stories.
The creativity blooming in the face of this adversity is incredible, whether it’s reading stories to a loved one via the app Marco Polo or creating chains of positive interaction through tagging others to join in a dance or to draw a funny photo.
Those on Instagram are actively offering support and guidance to their followers. Infographics and images evoking peace are strewn up and down my feed, along with a few memes, trying to poke fun at this hazy limbo we’re all in right now. I can also see the constant thread on social media platforms calling for mindfulness and maintaining mental health during this transition.
Some Rhodes seniors are posting on Instagram the ways they continue to enjoy life, savoring memories and places they have been or reflecting on the past four years, choosing gratitude over grief.
Group chats, Zoom groups, and Facetime are helpful in softening the blow of not seeing friends and classmates that we all thought we had at least two more months with before the bittersweet farewells.
There is no question that our generation’s mastery of social media has prepared us for the virtual component of this experience; however, nothing could prepare us for the uncertainty and mystery that somehow increased around the jump from college to the working world. What is already certain though is that no one is truly alone in this new journey, and support from a friend or fellow Lynx is only a phone call away.
At this time, I take comfort in a quote by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés, author of Women Who Run With the Wolves: “Long ago the word alone was treated as two words, all one. To be all one meant to be wholly one, to be in oneness, either essentially or temporarily. That is precisely the goal of solitude, to be all one.”