<rant>
clarifiED has summoned me out of isolation/retirement to add some content to a concerningly underweight issue of mathNEWS. I guess it can’t be healthy for a fortnightly publication to shed the weight of a massive column in the middle of a term.
Stairway Constants isn’t over yet. Two weeks ago, I was expecting to publish another 2 or 3 pages of Q&A with profs and other staff about their contributions to the MC north stairwell number line. It was going to be a fitting epilogue for a hobby series that’s taken me more effort than most of my courses this term. Even as the Academic Mission™ came crashing down that Friday, I was compiling the questions to be sent out by email…
It took multiple days for the implications of coronavirus to sink in. The profs I had emailed were busy on a mad dash to put out fires in multiple courses, and Stairway Constants’ epilogue would have to wait for another term. My work term is still clouded in uncertainty. My room in Waterloo will go unoccupied for 5 months — an insult to my landlord’s best efforts to provide affordable housing. To top it all off, there were multiple attempts on r/uwaterloo to spread fake news intent on causing distress.
I don’t understand how other universities got back on their feet after a few days, since Waterloo was winded for a week. I’m glad they took a week. Profs, staff, admin, and politicians had to make a lot of decisions that they probably aren’t happy with. You were informed of a lot of decisions that you probably aren’t happy with. It’s pretty safe to say that we all feel a collective disappointment about the situation, and a feeling of dread that it is now inevitable.
People are coping in various ways. Most folks I know have been relegated to the sidelines (their homes) while the essential service heroes assemble to save the day. Hobbies were started, video games were purchased, sleep debt was paid off, stocks were shorted, bodyweight exercises were done. A rare few caught up in their courses.
An orange passed through my Instagram feed; then came the Positivity Selfies. It’s nice to remember that even during social distancing we have the technology to spread “happiness” faster than the coronavirus. Cynical as we might want to be, we should be grateful for it. Last time there was such a major plague upon our world, we had none of this.
On top of that, here’s some of my own advice:
- Nobody exists just to please you, so don’t take it personally when they don’t.
- Very few things are out there to get you. Not even the coronavirus — it’s just trying to reproduce.
- Expect some things to be out of your control, and focus on the things that you can still affect.
- Kindness produces happiness.
- Panicking makes you look stupid!
Nonetheless, sad times have arrived. Even in healthier days, nobody could make everyone happy. It’s even truer now. You can’t control what others do for you, but you can control how you let it impact you in the moment. We will lose time, money, people, and our way of life, but hopefully we can keep some sanity. It’s still possible to be content.
</rant>
Despite being a throwaway article, I consider this to be the greatest piece of prose I’ve ever written.