college pandemic

Walking to Class at College During a Pandemic

With a campus full of strangers it’s easy to feel alone. I feed into this truth as I walk to class with my headphones in and avoiding eye contact with the passers-by. In pandemic times; in an environment so unknown especially to the new people that embody it. I know that everyone or at least most feel the same way I do. We are stripped from that connection that is arguably the only thing that makes us human: expressive emotion. In this case physical touch and connection. We keep our distance, weary of whom to let into our bubble, who you can get close to and who you have to turn aside for the time being. We act like everything is normal and function as such too. Our life circles on an infinite loop, programmed through our day no longer living but existing. Not one person daring to turn off the path of functionality, not one dares to resist. 

Stopped at a crosswalk, I wait for the walking man to tell me I can go. It’s cold, I barley missed him last time and my destination lies only on the opposite side of this damn crosswalk. The people that had been socially distanced walking behind me begin to pile up next to me. Complete strangers, whom I had no longing to engage in conversation or make friend. But the mere feeling of these strangers standing idly by my side makes me feel connected, almost happy. Usually this closeness isn’t appropriate but with no control over the size of the walkway, we were left with no choice. It was an odd feeling, one that lasted only seconds and was gone when the walking man appeared and the herd moved onward to their undeniably programmed existence.