The Long View: What Will We Share with Our Grandchildren About the Last Two Years?
It’s Me, Mom
I will forever be uneasy around those who stand too close. Fast forward fifty years, with gray hair and deeper wrinkles framing my face, I envision myself stepping back from whispers, tightening my lips in crowds, and wiping my hands and face after a close encounter.
My grandmother was always on edge. She recounted countless tales of growing up in London, vigilant for bombs near her home during WWII. Her mother panicked if she and her twin sister were late. She despised large governments for their meticulous food rationing. I vividly remember her saving eggs for weeks to include in her wedding cake, and the sirens and anxiety from her stories linger in my memory.
What will we recount to our grandchildren? How will the pandemic resonate with us in 10, 20, or even 30 years? What lasting effects will this period have on our relationships?
I’ll tell my grandchildren that when their parents were young, we endured months of quarantine filled with fear. Grandpa donned his N95 mask and rubber gloves to gather essentials from empty grocery shelves at dawn. We nurtured our sourdough starters and indulged in wine at lunchtime.
Those months turned into years, and we languished.
As a professor who transitioned to online teaching for 18 months, I balanced global health politics lectures with first-grade reading lessons. My 4-year-old affectionately dubbed me “Professor Thompson,” imagining our home as an extension of Hogwarts as we navigated the first four books together. While I struggled to be an ideal playmate, I cherish those moments on the floor; they were both enchanting and overwhelming, fleeting yet endless.
For some, quarantine felt like imprisonment, triggering memories of insecurity. Domestic violence escalated due to economic hardship and lockdowns. Although national suicide rates remained stable, they disproportionately rose among young people of color, LGBTQ+ communities, and those with lower incomes. The pandemic’s impact revealed the deep-seated inequalities within America’s economic and social fabric.
Many will carry the stress and trauma of this era into their twilight years. Bessel van der Kolk’s acclaimed book, The Body Keeps the Score, emphasizes how we bear the emotional scars of such traumatic events throughout our lives. As a medical anthropologist, I have listened to countless narratives describing how traumatic experiences become embedded in our memories and manifested in our bodies. Dr. Sarah Jenkins, a Family Medicine Professor, indicates that “The pandemic has significantly influenced the mental health of individuals and communities.” She notes that the anxiety, grief, and isolation experienced during this time have been overwhelming, resulting in record-high diagnoses of anxiety and depression, particularly among adolescents. The mental health ramifications of the pandemic will resonate for years to come.
In her book Disrupted Lives, anthropologist Mary Smith illustrates how periods of disruption can lead to identity shifts and new perspectives. Over the past few years, some have left dead-end jobs or toxic relationships, while others have discovered their passions—whether as artists, mixologists, or dedicated parents. Those with options seized the opportunity for transformation, while others were compelled to take risks to protect their loved ones. Some redefined their identities after losing loved ones to COVID-19 or facing divorce.
We will mark time through the lens of the virus, altering our daily routines and interactions in ways that will endure long after the pandemic. However, the timing of this experience was not uniform; different political ideologies influenced how states responded. As one woman in Iowa remarked, “I choose mental health over COVID,” treating it as a personal choice. This divergence may present a significant obstacle to fostering unity in America. What was your pandemic story?
Our understanding of life and death in America has undergone profound challenges as we navigate converging issues of climate, race, and health. We have been collectively transformed, and the mistrust generated during this period may linger for generations.
I once scribbled a poem in my journal during the pandemic while researching COVID denialism in my hometown. Lying awake after reading children’s stories, I tried to make sense of our divided nation: “One state, Two States, Red States, Blue States.” It baffled me how some resisted protecting one another. “This one has a little car. This one has a little star!” It became evident that no federal guidance was forthcoming. “Say! What a lot of COVID policies there are!”
The reality is, we had a pandemic policy playbook that we chose to ignore. Those of us in public health will recount how many who could do basic math considered themselves epidemiologists. The pandemic exposed deep-rooted issues of inequality in healthcare access and outcomes in America.
The Pandemic Journaling Project, initiated by anthropologists Laura and Emma, captured diverse reflections on this time. While responses varied greatly, two consensus points emerged: nearly everyone agreed that the impacts would last for years, if not generations, and that sharing our stories now is vital for future understanding.
Our narratives will be shaped by the virus, and the transformation of these stories—whether as trauma, a pause in time, or a national struggle—will evolve. We’ll reminisce about sourdough starters, Zoom gatherings, and the weight of responsibilities we carried for our families and ourselves. Our bodies will retain the memory of these experiences as we endeavor to establish a post-pandemic normality. However, healing our divisions must begin at home, as we reflect on our identities, support one another, and envision what the future holds.
Lydia Thompson is a medical anthropologist and a faculty member at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Her upcoming book, UNMASKED: COVID, Community, and the Case of Okoboji, will be published on March 16, 2022.
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Summary:
The pandemic has profoundly affected our lives, shaping our future narratives and relationships. As we recount these experiences to our grandchildren, we will carry the stress, trauma, and transformations that emerged during this time, forever altering how we view our individual and collective identities.
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