Lockdown, Vol 4

This is our fourth islandwide lockdown of the pandemic, and while we should be experts of navigating life holed up in our house by now, this lockdown -- now only one day old -- has been the most discouraging. I'd have trouble articulating exactly why. Perhaps it is because we experienced a bout of relative normalcy on our trip back to the States over the summer. From the beginning of the pandemic, I was mentally prepared for a long haul. I knew recovery would not be quick nor linear. But it's impossible not to be disheartened by the severe setback caused by the delta variant. It does seems like a cruelty heaped upon a pile of multiple cruelties. 

It's hard, too, watching parents around the world post back to school pictures on social media, smiling kids holding handmade signs "First Day of 3rd Grade!" Or "Back to School!" I am happy for them but also deeply envious. We asked the kids before we returned to Sri Lanka whether they preferred to stay at their old school even if it meant starting school online, and they unanimously said they did. Maybe kids shouldn't be in school yet. Reports from the States point to a messy (politically discordant) return to in-person learning. 

Peter began middle school this year. We had to buy him a laptop over the summer for the move. It's a tangible (and expensive) investment in this advance in his learning. He already seems more engaged. In sixth grade, he moves from classroom to classroom and has a different teacher for each subject, the biggest change from fifth grade where he had the same teacher all day and often seemed to completely zone out. It's understandable. 

Clementine still requires the most assistance, likes to maintain a running, stream-of-consciousness soliloquy of her entire day which makes getting actual work done challenging, and nearly had her first complete meltdown not five minutes into the school year when she couldn't figure out how to spell 'people'. She immediately claimed her stomach hurt and she felt like she was coming down with dengue. I taught her how to use a pocket dictionary. That seemed to help. At least, temporarily.  

The hardest part about a lockdown is having our access to the only outdoor space available to us restricted. A sign up sheet was posted, limiting trips to the pool to an hour and a half once a day. The impact is more psychological than physical. Economics 101 dictates when you limit supply, demand will increase. The sign up sheet incited a mad scramble for pool slots, magnified by the fact the only viable pool slot for the kids is right when they get out of school. It's not fair to keep the kids at a screen all day doing online school, then deprive them of the opportunity to get the wiggles out, running around outside or climbing on the jungle gym. 

Perhaps I'm most discouraged because of all three lockdowns this seems to be the one that really counts. Hindsight is 20/20, but likely we may not have needed to lockdown the previous three times. Of course, we'll never know for sure. Maybe the three previous lockdowns kept at bay the wave cresting now. Sri Lanka looks as though it is headed down the same path as India and Indonesia, a devastating spike that will take lives, rip families apart, create new wounds where those from civil wars, tsunamis, and bombings have yet to heal, then come crashing back down to Earth when there's no one left to infect. We can only hope this lockdown will save lives. As discouraged as we are, it seems like a small price to pay.