My 10-year-old granddaughter, who has lived in the USA for most of her life, is now living with us, along with her family. She recently wrote two essays on the pandemic that I’d like to share with you. Yes, she wrote them herself. I am very impressed with her command of the language and ideas. My conclusion -- read a lot and you will be able to write well. And she does read. She’s one of the family bookworms.
Here are the essays, thanks Julia for allowing me to share these on my blog.
ILLNESS AND FEAR
By Julia Otowa
This pandemic is a big eye-opener for human beings. Fear typically turns people into panic. But, after there is a cure, people slowly ease into the normal routine. This is what concerns me. The coronavirus is panicky. Now, with the cure, States are opening beaches, where it becomes overcrowded, making more people in the hospital, doctors getting ill, and just basically more confusion.
The fear at the core is, when will this be gone? Gone forever? Or STAY forever? Or even, will coronavirus be like a regular cold in the future? These questions cannot be answered right now.
Even if we DO find out, will we, human beings, accept the changes? Or not? Over the years, illnesses have broken out for a result of an epidemic or a pandemic like Ebola or Spanish Flu or something else. And we found a way to deal with them. Maybe the fear drove us on, or just the simple fact of the weariness of the illness rising. We may never know.
Fear. A terrible and good thing often resulting in the truth. Truth. The real explanation of something and have two ways on the road. These things I question myself. Fear and Truth. Stuff that may not be worth knowing. The fearful and the brave. Myself, none of them. We should appreciate the scientists and doctors who are risking their lives to find a faster way to cure patients with coronavirus.
This illness/ disease is a big drop in the world population. But… the beaches that were closed before opened! People are enjoying themselves while people across the country or world are dying from the coronavirus. These behaviors are wrong. When will people learn that these actions can wait until this pandemic is gone? That ordinary people, living their life, just hang onto the stay-at-home orders for who knows how long? Will in the future, humans will always be aware of what we touch? I surely do not know.
BRAVERY
by Julia Otowa
This pandemic of coronavirus is heavy with grief for family members. That is why we are counting on scientists and doctors to help us find a cure. You may think you have a great risk of getting the coronavirus, but it is actually the doctors and scientists who have a greater risk than you. These are times when we need BRAVERY. The bravery of scientists and doctors who are risking their lives for others' safety. The scientists are trying to find a faster and efficient cure for patients with coronavirus, so the family members don't feel the grief that others have felt before. This is an example of bravery, because the doctors and scientists are doing it all for the sake of other people.
At this we should thank the scientists and doctors, and give them our immense gratitude and thanks when (hopefully soon) the coronavirus is over, thanking them for finding a cure.
But, like in my last blog post, when will it be gone? It seems like it will still be here for a few more years maybe. We must have BRAVERY, though. It may seem as though it is not a lot, but in the end, it'll end up to be a lot of bravery we all had and gave.
This pandemic may scare a lot of people out of their wits. I think Mother Nature might-I said, MIGHT- be testing us as human beings. This might be an example for us. To stand up to this is another way to show bravery to others.
This is scary and frightening. The bravery may be cowering in the inside, deep deep down, where we have never reached before. But we must, MUST get it out, to engage with it, to be able to understand it, and to make an effort to know what its message is to us. For it may help us fight this pandemic, this virus, with all the bravery all together to make a STOP to the coronavirus!
The courage of the people in the world may not be together yet, but hopefully soon. We will need it more than ever now, with the virus's death and cases rising every second while we live and breathe. We must think ourselves lucky we have not gotten the virus; or are we? People are suffering and in pain. We have to help them, not physically, but emotionally. Like, encouraging them, saying, "It is going to be OK. You can do this.", etc. Yet another example of bravery that you can do too.
To get through this, we all need to stick together, help each other, and listen to the message your own bravery, deep down inside, is telling you. We can get through this together. We just need to have the bravery to do so.
Dear Julia,
I've been an admirer of your grandmother's writing for some time, and now I am admirer of your writing. Yes: We all need to be brave, in good times and bad times. As you grow older, you will come to understand that one needs to be brave even in so-called "ordinary" times.
Many years ago, when I was about your age, adults I respected told me, "You will be a writer when you grow up." I was flattered and happy to hear that because I thought writers were important people. I thought that if I became a writer, I'd be popular and maybe even be on television. As things turned out, I did not become a professional writer:…
Excellent! Very deep for a ten year old. Mature beyond her years! Well written!
She clearly takes after her grandmother in expressing herself!
Well done, Julia!