Coming of Age In A Pandemic

Changing Our Narrative

By: Tre’von Davidson

Twenty, the purgatory age of our shortly experienced lives. That taste of ageless freedom that we’ve desired since our first underaged drinking experience has almost arrived. Twenty is when that clock begins to tick slowly, like that final hour until a long summer vacation in grade school. As I waited for what I believe to be the beginning of my prime, I wondered, why is twenty taking so damn long? No one ever tells you how long of a journey twenty would be. If I were to take a guess on why that is, it’s because no one has experienced this year of life in the year 2020, unless you were born in the year of 1999 and so far, 2000. But, the answer to my question is simple, Miss Corona.

Covid-19 changed the entire world and has had an affect on the lives of every human being. For me, the pandemic changed my life for the better even though it has been nothing short of a tough learning process. After being forced to come home from my HBCU, (Historically Black College University) Tennessee State University, I was abruptly placed back to reality in my hometown of Louisville, KY. Being one of the epicenters of the social justice movements after the murder of Breonna Taylor, by the hands of the Louisville Metro Police Department, the mental and even physical toll that is burdened on black citizens in Louisville have been draining since the month of March to this day. To witness the protesting, news channels, and even seeing people you grew up with going to jail for fighting the system, the experience does nothing but build character.

Through my experience of being stuck at home for nearly a year now, my eyes have opened up to different aspects of life. The pandemic has given us the gift to think about what we want for ourselves. It took me half a year to sit down and think of what I want for myself, what goals I have, how I can live up to that potential and be the best version of me possible. For so long I was a caged bird, stuck in my ways and doing what was expected from other people. I had to cut my bad habits and apply myself if I wanted to be the man that I envisioned myself to be. I may be young, but I constantly think of that ticking clock that we all take for granted. Covid-19 taught me that it was time that I lived my life, my way.

What better way to start off the new year and a new outlook on life than your 21^st birthday? That purgatory of 20 was finally at a close and to celebrate life I was determined to show up to my prime in fashion, pandemic or not. How did we celebrate? With a party as if Covid-19 had never happened. There were bottles, there were good looking people, there was music that made you feel dangerous, and the only way to get fresh air was to take a step outside. Champagne was popped and I was so drunk that I may have even found the love of my life that night. As if I were someone who had come home from a bid in jail, 21 had set me free from those vices that I carried with me for an entire year. You couldn’t write a better story than one that was meant to be written. If I could do it all over again, I would turn 21 in the middle of a pandemic a hundred times over.