When I Was Your Age
when i was
your age i was already married and
pregnant with my first
child when i was your age i had already
worked two
jobs when i was your age your father and
i had already owned a house
and a car when i was your age i would be
up
and going about my day right after i
birthed you
when i was your age i was ridiculously
fit from all that walking we did
go ahead and look at my old photos
hi my name is aliya and i
and according to our parents we are lazy
overly sensitive
spoiled brats at least and compares them
to them
at our current age don’t get us wrong
our parents are lovely people but much
like others in their generation
they struggle to see that unlike how
they have the whole world to seize
we are literally stuck at home in our
pajamas
experimenting with banana bread feta
cheese pasta
and just waiting for another day to go
by
the moment we express any sort of
frustration with how tough the situation
is
we’re usually met with the response like
but at least you’re safe at home
safe yes save from kovid
- see my bedroom was
safe up until i had to wake up next to
my laptop
hosting my classmates and instructors in
a room that was once my sanctuary from
the world
my living room was safe and i couldn’t
wait
to get back home become one with my
couch and have a netflix marathon
now all i have are zoom meetings phone
calls in the evenings
and my days just turning into longer
days
our homes were safe before the whole
world found its way in
this is not to say that we are not
blessed and grateful
to have a roof over our heads and
families to support us during this
crisis
we are very much so
this is to echo the voices of many who
did not
expect ever that they would one day be
forced to stay in
and watch their whole words and
realities turn upside down
just overnight how are we supposed to
manage
without our daily routines of going to
the gym
venting with friends after work or just
cruising by ourselves in the fresh air
all of this has been taken away from us
and we suddenly found ourselves having
to adjust to a new mode of living
and just make the best out of it
sure we’ve had our fun some of us became
viral on tik tok
others have unleashed their inner chefs
and many of us
finally got the chance to spend more
time with the people that mattered the
most to them
but what about anxiety overtaking an
online exam
what about the sheer embarrassment of
when i accidentally
left my mic on and the whole class heard
my mom
asking me to clean up after myself
what about the pressure to go about work
and studies
and excel at them because what else is
there to do
it’s not like there’s a whole pandemic
going on or heartbreaking news
all around us as with anyone who
experiences a life-changing event
we certainly cannot just pretend it does
not exist
and simply go on about our lives just
like
any other day we have every right to
feel upset
that we can’t go to our favorite places
anymore to feel angry and frustrated
having to deal with homework when we
were very sick about our parents
and to feel useless because everyone
seems to be doing
just fine truth is we’re all
struggling what could help us struggle
a little bit less and make us feel a lot
more comfortable
is if we stop thinking about how
improved
we want to come out of this pandemic and
turn our attention a little bit
more towards how we can help ourselves
make it through
this pandemic baking banana bread
creating tick-tock videos
meditating finally logging off of that
zoom meeting
there’s no one size that fits all when
it comes to dealing with the global
pandemic
we were told that these would be the
best days of our lives we are young and
free and can take on the whole world
but in reality we ended up having to
come to terms
with the fact that we are actually not
free literally
we’re in a lockdown and it’s advisable
not to take on the whole world
after all we have to socially distance
at our age we have become desensitized
to complex
terms that have become part of our
everyday public speech
like pcrs curfews lockdowns messenger
rna
at our age we have become experts in
biotechnology
and virology at our age the countries
that we have
so long to visit are shutting down their
borders
and the companies that we dreamed of
joining after graduating
are laying off their own employees if
not going out of business
all together so the next time you find
yourself
bombarded with aonai was your age we
hope you find comfort in knowing
that no one has really been on your
shoes
and no one has ever really been in your
age
thank you