Written By: Michael Sandoval
The World
As We Know It
P.III
“The Journey Continues”
May
There were 6,178,86 individuals infected worldwide with this infamous virus at the beginning of the month of May. Although medical technicians, doctors and scientist placed elderly people as the highest risk of being impacted, we realized that the monster “venom” causing the world to whimper held no prejudice against age, gender, religion, race or color.
This was not the case in some of the world occurrences as we saw a new battle in the horizon during the unprecedented times. In May, turbulence of a different kind began to surface in the United States. Ahmaund Arbery was shot and killed while jogging in Brunswick Georgia. One racial crisis was quickly aggravated with another when George Floyed was killed during an encounter with police in Minneapolis. The world was faced with yet another detrimental war. The streets were stormed by protestors and the cities residence was in harm’s way. “Businesses were set on fire and the noises of explosions made it feel like a Hollywood movie set” said my Nephew who lives a few blocks from downtown Los Angeles.
I remember having unexplainable emotion. How could we as equal humans continue to repeat the mistakes of our past? Why now? Why during a time when we should consider aiding the pain of our fellow people as opposed to causing more depth of struggle within our society. The answers would never be found and the fear of uncertainty would only be enhanced by the impact and circumstances occurring in the United States. Little did we know that demonstrations would fill city centers across the world supporting human rights under one refrain… “Black Lives Matter”.
The world was stirring and I wasn’t sure if should be allowing the business challenges that I was encountering to impact me in the way that they were. How could I be so selfish? In hindsight there were so many other people in this world that were facing bigger forms of problems. As much as I was hurt by how things were affecting my own life we were healthy, safe and remaining determined and positive. I would have to continue to place my emotions aside and trust that things would be ok, even if my dreams continued to be placed on hold through uncontrollable reasons.
In May I decided to take a leap into social media. With the help of my Nephew, we designed and launched a webpage that would be title “The Quarantined Cook”… It started off as an idea that could help me release some of my feelings and emotions but as I’ve stated, in May 2020 I realized something interesting…. “I may have always been a “Quarantined Cook”…… Physically secluded at some points of my career due to inexperience and exposure, imaginatively contained at moments in light of respecting another’s cuisine and emotionally distant or segregated from others in efforts to pursue my path, dream, craft and future”. I wanted to share my experiences with the world and had I finally found my voice!
June
The protests ignited a global involvement and countries all over the world were supporting equality, but violence in various parts of the United States continued and after a few weeks of optimism, corona virus cases escalated to 10,476,012.
After almost three months of complete lockdown on my side of the world, the Spanish Government was beginning to allow short walks in small spurts for children and adults. Prior to this opportunity, the only contact that adolescents were able to have with each other was during the traditional clap at 8pm every evening. The one minute occurrence happened all across Spain in efforts to commemorate the losses that families endured, show gratitude for the medical response teams that risked their own health to save lives and to continue to inspire the hope that remained for better days to come.
The feeling of having a light at the end of what felt like an endless tunnel was a good sentiment. It was the first time in three month that we had something real to hold onto. As news continued related to the end of a complete lockdown, questions and the feeling of the unknown lingered through my mind. Will our world ever be “normal” again? Will I be able to get past the challenges that I have been faced with and overcome them through these incredibly difficult times? Will I allow this to define me as a professional? Will I be strong enough to endure these challenges? Do I believe in myself? Will I be able to live my dream and will the profession that adore the most ever be the same?
Granada City Center, 1st day out of Lock down | June 2020 |
We were out of the dark but the year was only half way over and 2020 had already defied prediction. What the rest of the year was going to hold was anyone’s guess. Through all of the feelings and emotions of uncertainty there were variations of hidden blessings that allowed me to continue to prosper. I was hoping for chance that July may show signs of stability or that our world of intelligence could unite together to overthrow;
The New “Crowned King”