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Imagine you’re talking to a couple of high school students in 2050. They ask, “How did the pandemic change the world as you knew it?” How do you think you would answer?

Before the pandemic, we used to put candles on a person’s birthday cake, and part of the celebration involved lighting the candles and, after singing the “happy birthday” song, telling the celebrant to make a wish and blow the candles out. Now, the idea of having someone spew germs all over a cake that is then sliced and distributed to everyone at the party seems a very unwise and unhealthy custom. We became a lot less likely to hug each other, a precaution that for many of us, has persisted well beyond the pandemic. Those of us who lived through the pandemic are more conscious of hygiene than we were before - we still wash our hands frequently, probably more often than you youngsters. We flinch if someone coughs or sneezes near us without covering their mouth and nose to prevent the spread of germs; we draw back if someone says “I’m feeling a little under the weather.”. On the other hand, I think the pandemic made us more appreciative of and attentive to our relationships with family and friends. The shock and pain of losing friends and loved ones to Covid-19 came to nearly everyone who was alive during the pandemic, and made us all more conscious of the fragility of life and the randomness of death. We became less likely to take our loved ones for granted, less likely to put off that visit or phone call because we were “too busy.”