Millennials can and should cancel this pandemic
I shouldn’t have gone to H-E-B on Wednesday afternoon.
Most of us at the Chronicle are working from home this week and next. So I was thinking ahead. Getting lunch stuff would be useful to my new routine.
Which is why I was at the deli counter asking for a pound of baby Swiss cheese when Mayor Sylvester Turner announced the cancellation of the rodeo and the World Health Organization announced that the new coronavirus was officially a pandemic.
I had a list of other necessities: bacon, tampons, a Diet Coke. As I walked through the aisles, I noticed that everyone had massive rolls of toilet paper, multiple jugs of water and cans upon cans of vegetables in their carts.
If you’re a millennial like me, you’ve seen the coronavirus memes on Twitter and TikTok. Generation Z is joking about buying up tickets to Europe at super cheap prices and dancing to “It’s Corona time.”
These memes don’t mirror the anxiety I felt. I went from thinking “Do I need toilet paper?” to “Maybe I should get some toilet paper …” to “Oh my God, are 12 rolls of toilet paper enough?”
People are worried, and they have a reason to be. And while younger people appear to be less likely to die from this illness, less risk doesn’t mean no risk.
This could be us, but maybe you’ve forgotten. Remember, the Spanish flu in the early 1900s mostly killed young adults. This time, it’s different. It appears we’re not the most at risk.
But regardless of our lower chances of getting seriously ill, there are plenty of other reasons for younger people to take this virus seriously. The elderly and the sick are counting on us to not spread the new coronavirus.
Fortunately, as the creators of Cancel Culture, that might be what we do best. So let’s cancel coronavirus.
Cancel going out to eat. I can’t afford the avocado toast anyway, and that money can go toward my student loan in
terest payment. I might as well celebrate Throwback Thursday and eat the leftover soup in my freezer.
Cancel any travel plans. Isn’t our generation more motivated to act on climate change? Let’s cancel our carbon footprint. Show those older generations that actions speak louder than words. That Spirit Airlines redeye flight to Coachella didn’t even include a carry-on, so we’re saving money. I’m 31, so that $50 could go to buying a house.
Cancel going to church. We’re more likely to label ourselves as spiritual rather than religious, anyway. Is Mercury in retrograde? I’m being such a Cancer right now, so it’s probably better if I stay home, avoid any emotion and hang out with my crystal collection.
Anxiety is my strong suit. I stay up late at night, plagued
with existential dread, like a lot of others in my generation.
We’re told the fate of a dying planet is in our hands, and now, the lives of our parents and grandparents may be, too. While climate change feels totally out of our control, the spread of coronavirus does not.
My mother is 70, and she’s a college professor. She teaches an intro sociology class to 200 fresh-faced freshmen and sophomores every semester. She’s there, rain or shine, coronavirus or not, if the school is open. She’s been teaching face-to-face classes most, if not all, of my life.
When I think of her students joking on TikTok about cheap cruises or flying to Italy for $100, it’s not like I don’t laugh. I do. But then I begin to worry. They might be able to get over this virus, but will my mom? She’s taught through walking pneumonia, two hip replacements and hurricanes. She’s tough, but she might not be tough enough to endure COVID-19 and its mortality rate, which increases with age.
Life may feel like it’s over for us because we have to stay home. We have to miss Lizzo at the rodeo or delay that bachelorette party. But if we don’t cancel our plans, life really might be over for our older family members and friends. Shouldn’t that be enough to keep us home?
It might be an extrovert’s nightmare, but it’s this introvert’s dream. I’ve got extra bacon, the ability to work from home and subscription services to Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and CBS All Access ( just for “Star Trek”). I’ve been practicing for this moment my whole life. We should be able to say to our elders that it’s going to be OK, Boomer. We’ll do what we can to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.