I'm finishing my degree at the start of next year. I can only imagine to what world I will get into, after the pandemic, quarantines, and remote jobs. It's going to be such a different world compared to a few years ago. Damn.
After 9/11 there was talk about nobody wanting to work or live in skyscrapers. That the world was forever changed. Nothing really changed except the state gained more power and people lost some power. Last I checked, there were cranes all over manhattan throwing up skyscrapers left and right.
After the 2008 financial crisis, there was talk about breaking apart "too big to fail" banks and reigning in their financial shenanigans and the world was forever changed. Nothing really changed except the banks got bigger and now housing market is the hottest it has ever been.
After the Trump election, there was talk about end of democracy, financial collapse, end of globalization, etc and the world was forever changed. Nothing really changed except the state gained more power, the wealthy got wealthier.
Every few years there is a crisis that is going to change the world forever. After a few months/years, people forget and move on, til the next crisis that is going to end/change the world.
You'll realize this eventually. It's why news really should be taken with moderation. Too much news and it become poisonous and unhealthy for your well being.
Everyone eventually learns that "life goes on". In a few years, covid will seem like ancient history and most people will have moved on to other things.
Life went on after the far deadlier 1918 pandemic. Life went on after ww2. Life went on after 9/11. You'll be alright.
Life went on after the Great Depression, but it left its mark on the people who lived through it. Isn't that kind of a cliche?
The US has mostly escaped things that affected people more in other countries, like, say, WWI and WWII. So to some extent, I think saying "you'll get over it" is assuming the US will continue to be fortunate.
If you don't believe in divine providence looking over "fools, drunks, and the USA", it's not logical to count on it in the future.
I am unsure why you are being downvoted, but I whole heartedly agree with this sentiment. You are not attempting to downplay any of those tragedies or the current pandemic, but I do believe it will eventually end. Or it will end us. Theres only two ways forward.
Seems like there might be another way forward, one in which we all muddle along with an ongoing pandemic that doesn't wipe us out but keeps evolving and infecting and killing significant numbers of people. We continue opening and closing economies, rushing out experimental vaccines, and begin seeing larger numbers of long term effects of the disease and attempts to mitigate it.