Why now? A question I have been asking myself since hearing the news of a worldwide quarantine and lockdown. As a senior in high school, weeks after the news, this question still hasn’t left my mind. But over these few weeks, I have grown to look at this question with a different perspective. 

At first, like most people, I saw the quarantine as a burden where I could have been spending time with my friends during our last few months of high school. Then, I found an answer to this question which might be the answer for most people who share the same question as me. The answer is quite simple: everything in life happens for a reason. 

Now for each person around the world this reason is different. I sat with that idea for a while and was finally able to come to a conclusion for myself that could perhaps be the answer for many seniors around the world in the same position as me. I don’t know if it’s just me, but up until this point, senior year has been going by insanely fast. To a point where I don’t think I was able to truly enjoy each and every special moment this year. My time was spent finishing college apps, running around with friends, doing an unexpected large amount of schoolwork, and anxiously waiting for college decisions. For me, I feel this quarantine happened so I could stop and reflect on my time at Marymount, allowing me to mentally prepare myself for my new journey of college and spend some much needed time with my family before moving out in a few months. This answer has provided me with a bit of peace knowing that this was meant to happen. 

Therefore, I decided to ask the people around me if they could find their answer to this question. For my dad, his answer was that it allowed him to stop traveling endlessly for work and finally spend more quality time with his family. For my sister, to her benefit, it is giving her more time to focus on studying for her law school finals. I had been emailing with an administration director, as I am a part of our school’s ambassador program, and her answer to this question was, she has been able to spend more quality time with her daughter before having another child in a few weeks. 

I have also tried to think about why now on a global scale, and was able to come to a conclusion that in our modern busy society, it has allowed people to take a step back, reassess and recognize what truly matters in life and to be grateful for everything we have. Now, I’m not saying answering this question has completely fixed my questions and concerns, like everyone during this time I have experienced the bad and the good days, but it has helped provide me with a bit of peace. Therefore, I will leave you to answer the question: why do you think the quarantine has happened in your life at this time?