A letter from May 4th, 2020

Dear Future Me, I know it probably won’t matter by the time you read this but I’m really sorry. I’m sorry you had your last day of school without knowing you won’t see most of those people again. I’m sorry you didn’t get a proper goodbye or the proper closure for your high school experience (which was at best 7/10). I’m sorry there are adults trying to invalidate and silence the class of 2020 for being upset by calling us selfish when we aren’t. No matter what we do or how strongly we feel about it, school is still closed, prom is still canceled, and graduation will probably be virtual. We realize this isn’t going to change and we obviously realize this is for the safety of others. However we are allowed to feel this way and we shouldn’t be portrayed as arrogant kids because of it. It’s ironic though because all the adults who are angry at us got to end high school the right way. They got to play their favorite sport with their team for the last time, they got to do senior traditions, they got to tell their favorite teachers how much they mean to them and get them gifts, they got to slow dance at prom with their crush, they got to walk the stage and shake their principal’s hand for the last time while the audience erupted in cheers as their name was called. You get the point I just don’t think it’s right for them to criticize us. I see a lot of people my age not listening to the governor and not practicing social distancing because they think it’s a joke. But at the same time I feel like our generation is desensitized to disasters because it’s all we’ve known. We were born during the 9/11 era, when we first started high school Trump got elected, and now we’re ending high school during a global pandemic. My hope for the future is that one day life will go back to normal, but I can’t stop feeling it will never be the same. I keep hearing things about a second wave coming and it’ll be worse in the fall, so I just lost hope for a normal future. I hope that you’re well though. However far this reaches you in the future I hope you’re following our life plan the way I told you to. Love, 18 year old you