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“If you will rule this land, as now you rule it,
better to rule it full of men than empty.
For neither tower nor ship is anything
when empty, and none live in it together.”
- Priest in Oedipus the King by Sophocles
This pandemic has affected everyone. It seems each day the virus is spreading to a new region, bringing with it closings and mandatory quarantines. From the working class to America’s favorite celebrities, all have been affected in some way. While it has touched and changed the lives of everyone, some of these changes have been mutilating. For me personally, I felt robbed of a lifelong dream of mine: graduating from college.
With the pandemic, Princeton was shut down and students were mandated to move out. Although graduation has not yet been canceled and I will still “graduate” this spring, the three-day ceremony will most definitely be postponed, and for understandable reasons. But despite my reason and my logic, it was still painful to kiss goodbye many things I hoped to experience at the end of my Princeton career: working against the clock in Firestone Library to finish my thesis, celebrating finishing my thesis and photographing it at Nassau Hall, taking only two classes and enjoying Princeton as I had never done before, taking part in all my eating club events, attending my last lawn parties, going on beach week with my roommates, meeting alums at reunions, having my commencement ceremony, walking through the FitzRandolph gates, and many small events in between these grand moments.
But plans change. Initially, I was devastated. What seemed like weeks of packing and moving out was only a few days. I was most definitely stressed and perhaps depressed too. I could not understand why this was happening to me at this point in my life, right when I felt I was at my peak. However, I was recently reminded of a scene in Oedipus the King by Sophocles. When a plague inflicts Oedipus’ land, a priest tells him the quote above, pleading with him to take action.
Thankfully, the worst has passed for me personally. I am home safe and sound with my family. I have come to terms with my situation. But these two sentences from Sophocles were humbling. I am reminded that I am blessed to be able to come home to a safe environment. I am blessed to have a home. I am blessed to have people to welcome me. There are so many worse situations I could be in, and for those people experiencing them, I send my prayers and my empathy.
I have come to realize, as I know many of us have, that while some things are uncontrollable, it is our attitude and actions that we can control. This situation has been a wake up call, a call to live life fuller, a call to love more, a call to be thankful. As Oedipus is reminded that he cannot be a king of a land where there are no people, I am reminded that it is the people and relationships in my life that truly matter. While it is upsetting that some of my “dreams” of senior year will not happen, I must count my blessings over my misfortunes. So although I wasn’t able to take the iconic photos by Nassau Hall with my finished, bound thesis like I had hoped, my friend Elizabeth and I made time while packing up our things to do a senior photoshoot. We had to adapt to our surroundings and remember that it is the friendships we made and the families we return to that matter. So while quarantining may not be as fun as our normal routine, I am blessed to still be with and in contact with the people I love, for no life is anything when empty and none live in it together.
