Anthropologists often talk about how pandemics throughout history reshape culture. During the Black Plague in the 14th century, for example, people reexamined faith and mortality, leading to shifts in art, religion, and medicine. During the 1918 flu pandemic, traditions like handshakes disappeared for years, and public health became a collective value.
COVID-19 will be remembered the same way, not just for the science behind it, but for how it transformed everyday life.
What fascinates me is how quickly new traditions replaced old ones. We learned to celebrate virtually, to express affection through screens, and to mourn without being physically present. And even though it was hard, it showed how adaptable people are. Our rituals didn’t disappear; they evolved.
When I finally returned to school two years later, everything felt different. People had changed, but so had the way we valued community. Simple things, like sitting with friends at lunch or seeing someone’s full smile without a mask, felt meaningful again.
Pandemics have a strange way of reminding us what matters. They strip away the excess and force us to rebuild our traditions around connection, empathy, and resilience.
So while that phone call from my mom marked the beginning of something scary and uncertain, it also marked the start of a new kind of cultural awakening, one that taught us how to hold on to each other, even when we had to stay apart.
Starting Narratives 
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