I’m mad.

Shocking, I know. 

For anyone who knows me well, it’s not an emotion that I outwardly express very often.

But here I am, writing my first For the Record editorial about it.

So why am I mad? 

The rising numbers of COVID-19 cases both on our campus and nationally, the lack of a fall break that is causing Goshen College students’ mental health to break, the near-impossible balancing act of the college administration to keep students both safe and happy and much, much more.

I could go on, but most everything I just listed can be described by the acronym we’ve become all too familiar with: COVID-19.

On Wednesday, I was at the weekly The Globe leadership meeting. 

At the end of the meeting, Jason Samuel, faculty advisor for The Globe, asked how we were doing.

I told him I was mad, and he told me he was, too.

He said he realized that, for months, he’s had this underlying anger because of the coronavirus, and the most frustrating thing is, he can’t blame anyone for it, meaning it just simmers below the surface.

I agree with him, and here’s the kicker:

There is no one person we can blame for all of this.

Sure, a couple people come to mind: the leaders of our country, the people at the grocery store who don’t wear their masks, a certain person who insists that this pandemic is all a sham and that you shouldn’t “let it dominate your life.”

But ultimately, much of what happens to us as a result of this virus is out of our control. 

So what can we do?

It starts with a c, but no, it’s not crawl into a hole. 

We can care.

This summer, during my ample amounts of free time due to quarantine, I started watching an online comedian and content creator named Noel Miller.

Shortly after I started first watching him, the protests sparked after the death of George Floyd. I remember logging into his stream one night in June expecting a laugh, but instead received the most eye-opening lesson about the systemic racism in this country. I was overwhelmed … how could I do anything about it?

But then he gave me a piece of advice that I’ll always carry with me: “It costs nothing to care.”

So I urge you all … care. Give a flying squirrel about all that is going on around you.

Because many times, we’re told to think big, but we’ve all got a lot going on right now. So instead, think small. Check in with your friends, wear your mask, make someone laugh.

Because in the words of Troy from High School Musical: “We’re all in this together.”