The New Normal Must Go: A Reflection (Essay Sample)

The New Normal Must Go
Perhaps we have become too complacent with what we had in our old normal—crime, corruption, injustices, scarcity, greed—all was fine. We then face a century-defining killer virus and suddenly the world and its governments scramble to quickly find a solution: a “new” normal. However, I find hardly enough has changed to call our current condition as something new. The new normal we live in today is just our old normal but reclusive and donning a face mask. Violence, injustice, and greed is still ever-present today, and their grip around their victims has tightened. If we truly want a better tomorrow, the new normal must go and in its stead, concrete change that will last lifetimes.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, parts of the world went into lockdown. In the Philippines, people stayed at home, including children, as schools closed, and learning done through other media. According to Save the Children Philippines, the lockdown came with an alarming rise in cases of online sexual abuse and exploitation of children. This was as families fell deeper into poverty and income became scarcer and scarcer—these desperate measures were taken if the family wished to last another day.
The change I talk of eliminates the need to go through those desperate measures in order to survive. Children should be spared from the torment and parents from the need to sell their children like cattle. The change I wish for strikes down violence and abuse, racism—unequal treatment imposed onto people because their skin color is different, or their eyes are smaller than normal.
But the change I wish to make is impossible to be done alone, and if the whole world is involved, then it is impossible to make that change immediately. Thus, the change we all should be wishing, no, striving for relies on each one of us to do their part. Even though at first it may seem that our individual acts are futile, our combined persistence will eventually make a large enough wave that will be felt throughout the world. Before we even know it, we will be living in a new and better normal.
To be more concrete on what those “individual acts” might be, they are small, yet meaningful changes to our personal lives. For example, set a morning routine for yourself; wake up early and exercise; or live on a healthy diet. These seemingly minor lifestyle changes may seem useless in the context of worldwide change