Ever find yourself screaming at your TV because the people in the show your watching aren’t wearing masks within a crowd? Yeah, me too. It’s been almost an entire year since the Coronavirus (COVID-19) forced us all into Zoom classes, virtual events, and blue light glasses. We have mourned a lot: seniors losing their chance at a “normal” year and graduation, thousands of people losing their jobs, and the nearly 500,000 people who have lost their lives to COVID. However, keeping those losses in mind, the world-wide pandemic has also highlighted the groups of people who have worked hard to keep the world spinning.
Here are a few groups of people we should continue to thank post-pandemic:
Educators
Imagine this, you’ve roughly planned out an entire year of work, only to have the entire world fall to pieces. Now, while dealing with the fact that an unprecedented (tired of that word yet?) pandemic has wrapped its claws around every facet of our lives, you’ve been expected to completely rework your plan to an online structure. That’s basically what every single educator had to do in March of this past year. After carefully planning out lesson plans, and in-person instruction, they were expected to adjust their lesson plans to an online structure quickly and efficiently. Not to mention that many educators have to worry about remote instruction for their kids and ensuring that their loved ones are being safe and protected. I’ve always argued that educators are the unsung heroes this nation relies on, but truly, after the miracle they pulled to keep students afloat, I truly believe that they are all Supermen and Wonder Women in disguise.
Health Care Workers
Without a doubt, health care workers and caregivers had to be on this list. Workers who have to be in contact with those who have tested positive for COVID-19 are knowingly risking their own lives in hopes of saving others. There are the obvious healthcare workers such as surgeons/physicians, but we shouldn’t forget to thank providers such as dentists, psychologists (mental-health is just as important as physical health), nurses and assistants, infection control, pharmacists, physical therapists, social workers, optometrists, speech pathologists, and all other hospital personnel. The scary thing about COVID is how easily you can contract the virus without even knowing it, and yet these workers go in every day to willingly interact with COVID patients. If you know a healthcare worker, give them your thanks.
Researchers Who Developed the COVID Vaccine
This goes without saying, the researchers who developed the COVID vaccine tirelessly worked to create this vaccine in under a year. Before this vaccine, the fastest vaccine to be made was the mumps vaccine and it was developed in 4 years. It’s thanks to researchers, physicists, and everyone else in the science community who worked tirelessly to perfect the vaccine that we can see a future where people aren’t terrified of a simple sneeze. With the vaccine slowly getting distributed to people around the world, the terror and anxiety that has been hanging in the air for the last year is slowly but surely starting to dissipate. Everyone who has worked on the production of this vaccine deserves all the recognition in the world, and yet a lot of the attention going their way is apprehension about getting the vaccine. No matter how you feel about whether the vaccine was “rushed” or are happily getting in line for your dose, it’s important to recognize how we got to this point to begin with: the tireles work of the scientific community.
Food and Agriculture Essential Workers
Over the past year, I’ve developed two new friends: restaurant takeout and HEB’s curbside grocery delivery. To the personal shoppers, delivery workers, and cashiers, I just want to say thank you. To the food manufacturing employees and supplier employees, thank you. To be able to bring home groceries is a huge blessing that I think many of us took for granted before the pandemic. We can’t forget about the farmers who have worked day and night to ensure their produce still gets to our grocery stores, restaurants, and eventually our homes. Carry-out food has become a beautiful treat after a hard week of exams and none of this would have been possible without the workers who continue to serve their community.
Our Friends and Family
As mentioned before, mental health is just as important as physical health and if it weren’t for our friends and family, I don’t think many of us would have made it this far into the pandemic. To the parents who have become makeshift educators/tutors to their kids, or to the friends who check in on you every once and awhile, we wouldn’t have made it without them. So often, we take our friends and family for granted, thinking that they will always be there. However, this pandemic has taught us otherwise, and it’s important to remember to tell them thank you every so often before it’s too late.
Now there are the obvious groups of workers in this article that deserve our thanks, but I urge you to remember those like the educators when giving thanks. So many of these groups have been highlighted because of the pandemic (the only time we’re ever going to thank the pandemic for something), but this should never be a one-and-done type of thing. Similarly to thinking about Thanksgiving, we often forget to express gratitude unless it’s already been written into our schedule. If the pandemic has taught any of us anything, it’s to utilize every second you have. Try utilizing some of your time to say thank you, whether it be to the cashier at the grocery store, or to a friend who’s made time to FaceTime you. Remember, no one will know how much you appreciate them unless you actually tell them. So to start, thank you, to every reader who reads this, for taking the time to show you care.