Hey guys. It's been a while. I'm sorry. As many of you know, AP week just ended. There's a lot I could talk about concerning the APs and how they went, but I'll save that for another day. Now, with APs over and school coming to a close, I can go back to a weekly schedule.
The day before my AP language exam, my mom sends me an online article. "Shakespeare's Globe theater faces permanent closure due to Covid-19 lockdown." It took me a minute to read through that title and fully understand what it meant.
Last year, my mom and I spent a few days in London for my sixteenth birthday. I adored the trip. London was incredible and I have so many fond memories of the trip. One of those memories just so happens to be our visit to the Shakespeare Globe Theater.
An identical replica of the original (lost to fire in 1613), the Globe Theater has modern features for the comfort and safety of the audience. Shakespeare's works, which were designed for this theater, are performed for excited audiences here.
And now, this historic building faces permanent closure. I have many friends who would have loved to see the Globe Theater. But now, they may never get the chance.
This really got me thinking. Here is this piece of history that now risks losing everything because of this pandemic. We hear about this because this is a famous place. But what about all of the other places forced to close?
So many small businesses don't have enough money to continue to remain 'open' while shut down. Across the country, businesses are closing down without plans to reopen. People are losing their jobs because businesses can't afford to stay open during this pandemic. Everyone's talking about it, and yet nobody's talking about it.
I can't help but think about places I didn't know existed. Places I would have adored had I been given the chance to visit before the forced closure. Small businesses I know and love whose fate I'm unsure of.
Was that the last time I ate at that restaurant? Sat in that coffee shop? Ordered from that bakery? A year prior, I didn't think I'd lose these things. I never even imagined something like this pandemic was even possible of happening.
For theater class, we had to write monologues. I wrote the line "We're losing things we never thought we'd lose" in mine, and it continues to ring true.
From proms and graduations to the Globe Theater, things we once saw as givens and constants are no longer that. It's hard to think about how, when the world goes back to normal, it's not going to be the world we left behind.
And it's not even over yet. The number of cases continues to go up. We've got a long way to go before this pandemic is over. There's talk about a second wave. I'm trying to get used to the idea that I might not get a final (senior) season of field hockey.
It's hard to look on the bright side of this pandemic. Sometimes, there doesn't feel like there is a bright side. But there is. There has to be. We're going to get through this, and we're going to come out stronger than ever.
The world won't ever be the same again. We might lose places like the Globe Theater. But we'll never forget them. And, who knows, maybe they'll reopen once the pandemic is completely gone.
(To read the original article: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/shakespeare-globe-theater-covid-intl-scli-gbr/index.html )
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