Statewide freeze: Will things ever return to normal?

Recently, a decision was mandated by our state governor, Kate Brown, enlisting a supposed brief “freeze” within Oregon to re-lockdown with the goal of minimizing the increasing amount of Covid-19 cases. Undoubtedly, worrisome and uncertain conditions continue to engulf our country throughout the pandemic, however, this “freeze” enlighted ambivalent opinions among the student body of Sam Barlow. 

“Since Covid, I feel like people have taken unaccountable drastic measures and blamed quarantining on their actions, ultimately leading to chaotic behavior throughout the state. In a time of desperation, you think society would align more instead of divide, but we have all been given the chance to isolate ourselves which isn’t healthy but allowed people to know and connect with themselves more than they ever have,” exemplifies junior Elijah Golden.

Occupying Golden’s days amidst the global anarchy includes working-out, getting Chipotle literally every day because it’s an obsession of his, creating content for his Youtube channel, and driving around in his new Mustang. Luckily, most of Golden’s everyday hobbies have been manageable during quarantining and he continues to advocate for positivity and happiness especially when it comes to the loneliness of others.

“I do not have a good opinion on the freeze as I’m confused on why we are going back on full shut down. If the first time didn’t work, why do it a second time? I think it’s right in letting each state handle the issues at hand more or less on their own, but this was originally supposed to be a 14-day curve to shut down to reduce the risk of Covid, not an 8-month pause to our lives.  For students, our world has changed dramatically. Socially, it’s changed a lot. I’ve noticed that without sports and without the gym being opened, motivation has secreted as laziness rises above,” states freshman Koltyn Kenworthy.

Movies and middle school praise high school, painting the picture of the “best four years of every teenager’s lives” which illuminates a student’s emotions when entering the new environment through absorption of excitement and happiness, except a year and a half has already been a loss in each highschoolers lives and the most delicate year, freshmen, have suffered one of the biggest transitions faced.

“Things will get better eventually. We were all looking forward to things such as sports, or social events, but whatever it is, looking forward to the future more and excited to get back to normal rather than being disappointed with our present time. I know this has been the weirdest time in my life, and probably most of our lives, but great things come out of weird times. We could turn 2020 into a disappointment and waste of time, or a huge learning experience and a refresh. The most important thing is to keep hope. As long as you have your hope in the right things, you become a much more enjoyable person to be around, you’ll learn to love life for what it truly is, and realize people were made to lift each other up rather than put them down,” preaches junior Tyson Roupp.

Ultimately, we’ve all been let down whether it was at the slightest convenience or the biggest dream we’ve dreamt of only to wake up in a never-ending nightmare that 2020 is perceiving, but we could take quarantining and the newly mandated “freeze” as a step back to segregate ourselves even more, or as a step back to refreshing and rejuvenate ourselves for an awaited normalization. Whichever outlook you decide, remember this isn’t indefinite and our world will surely be reborn into a more developed and changed state than ever before.